



PRESENTED BY 



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f Ct K AAS €.&/&/ST* 


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■Bible in tjjt Cminting-lottse: 


A COURSE OF 


LECTURES 


MERCHANTS 


</ 

,\ ■ BY 

H. A. BOARDMAN, D.D. 


FIFTH EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO &CO. 
1854 . 




A 





Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO., 

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN. T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. 












TO THE 

rrrlrnnts nf ^jjilnhlpjjtn, 

THESE LECTURES 


ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY THEIR FRIEND 

AND TOWNSMAN, 


H. A. BOARDMAN. 




PREFACE. 


Merchants have had too little help from 
the Pulpit. They have been left, very much, 
to frame their own ethics, and to grapple, 
as they might, with the temptations and 
trials of business. There is no lack of 
sermons and books on the vices of great 
cities. Able treatises on the formation of 
character, enter largely into the conservative 
literature of the age. But an adequate 
Hand-book on the moralities of Commerce, 
is yet to be supplied. The present volume 
does not aspire to this elevated function: 
it is merely an humble essay in that direc¬ 
tion. It has been prepared as a companion 
to the “ Bible in the Family” ; and is 

(vii) 


viii 


PREFACE. 


offered to the Mercantile classes with the 
hope, that, through the Divine blessing, its 
suggestions may afford them some assistance 
in adjusting the casuistries, of trade, and 
subordinating its aims and implements to 
the higher ends of life. 

To the ten Lectures comprised in the 
series, there is appended a discourse delivered 
on a funeral occasion, before the Young Men 
attached to the “ Jobbing -Houses” in this 
city. 


Philadelphia, May , 1853. • 


PR 


r . cox 

pp'- 

CONTENTS. 


MA/WWVA^ 


LECTURE I. 


THE CLAIMS OF THE MERCANTILE PROFESSION UPON 

THE PULPIT. 


PAGE 

FIFTY YEARS AGO — SOURCES OF DANGER — GROUNDS OF HOPE — 
CRUDE CONCEPTIONS OF THE PULPIT — THEOLOGY AND MORALITY 
INSEPARABLE — PRACTICAL GODLINESS — DUTY OF THE MINISTRY 

-A WORD FOR AGRICULTURE—COMMERCE AND THE PUBLIC 

MORALS - OUR TRUE REPRESENTATIVES - THE TRIUMPH OF 

TRADE — ORIGIN OF THESE LECTURES. 13 — 38 


LECTURE II. 

THE RULE OF COMMERCIAL RECTITUDE. 

EQUIVOCAL PRACTICES — EXPEDIENCY — MACHIAVELLIANISM —A 

SHYLOCK-THE OPIUM-TRADE-BRITISH RAPACITY — MUTUAL 

ASSIMILATION — CONVENTIONAL MORALITY — MISGIVINGS SUP¬ 
PRESSED— THE Dl r .ECT OF SHOPPING — TOO HONEST FOR A 
MERCHANT — SPURIOUS ETHICS — PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY — 

A PERFECT CODE—NEED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 39 — 69 

LECTURE III. 

THE TRUE MERCANTILE CHARACTER. 

A MODEL MERCHANT — DR. JOHNSON — ADVENTURERS - SORDID 

VIEWS — THE MORAL DISCIPLINE OF TRADE — COMMERCE AND 
CHRISTIANITY - THE THREE MERCANTILE VIRTUES — DOING 

(ix) 




X 


CONTENTS 


RIGHT — LOVING MERCY—MEN IN MAIL — VIGILANCE 
TJLENT ESTABLISHMENTS — RIGHTEOUS SEVENTY - 
CHART. T 

». v. U 

lecture: w. 

HASTING TO BE RICH. 

MUTUAL DEPENDENCE—AN AGRARIAN REFORMATION — A CHRONIC 
MALADY — ANTICIPATION AND FRUITION — FACILITY IN TRUST¬ 
ING — OVER-TRADING — ENDORSING — DISASTROUS FRUITS OF 

THE SYSTEM — RUNNING IN DEBT — THE DEBTOR’S PENALTY- 

RETIRING AT THIRTY- WHILST WE LIVE, LET US LIVE- 

SELFISH PROFUSION — AVARICE, A BAR TO HEAVEN - A 

PORTRAIT. 99 — 130 


PAG! 

—FRAUD- 
— A SAFE 

. 70 — 98 


LECTURE Y. 

SPECULATING. 

THE SOUTH-SEA COMPANY — A COMMUNITY CRAZED — A FINANCIAL 
CRISIS — PRACTICAL ATHEISM—AN ISIIMAELITE — ROBBERY AND 
CHARITY — SANCTITY OF TRUSTS — COLLATERAL SPECULATIONS 
LIABILITY OF CO-PARTNERS — BANKS — DUTIES OF DIRECTORS 

— PERVERTED INSTITUTIONS — TRUE POSITION OF BANKS - 

USE AND ABUSE OF POWER — DEALING IN STOCKS — CON¬ 
TRACTS ON TIME — GAMBLING IN STOCKS—VICE MADE REPUT¬ 
ABLE — FICTITIOUS MERCHANDIZE — DANGERS OF COVETOUSNESS 

— A SUMMONS FROM ETERNITY. 131 - 172 

LECTURE VI. j_ 

BANKRUPTCY. 

LUXURIES — THE QUESTION OF LABOUR — SnOW AND SUBSTANCE 

— THE LIBRARY — UNCONSCIOUS TEACHING — LIABILITY TO 
FAILURE — MORAL TESTS OF BANKRUPTCY — TESTIMONY OF 

JUDGE HOPKINSON — A NATION DEBAUCHED BY SPECULATION- 

THE DEATH-STRUGGLE — DUTY OF INSOLVENTS-SWINDLERS- 

VALUE OF A LEGAL DISCHARGE — PERMANENT OBLIGATION OF 
DEBTS — BANKRUPTCY A COMMON CALAMITY — INTEGRITY OF 
THE DUTCH — REGALIA OF COMMERCE — TnE ONLY SURE EQUIP¬ 
MENT. 173 — 208 









CONTENTS 


XI 


LECTURE VII. 

PRINCIPALS AND CLERKS. 

PAGE 

DIFFERENT PHASES OF COMMERCE — RESPONSIBILITY OF PRINCI¬ 
PALS— THE DOWNWARD PROCESS—LAFITTE — VALUE OF SUN¬ 
SHINE—DIALECT OF TRADE, IN THE PARLOUR—THE MORAL LAW, 

' 

NO PHANTASM—DRUMMING—USE AND ABUSE OF THE PRINCIPLE— 

A HUMAN SACRIFICE—PATERNAL SUPERVISION—STEPHEN ALLEN 
—DUTIES OF A CLERK—EYE-SERVICE—TEMPERS AND MANNERS 
-LEARNING TO STOOP—DISSIPATION — INTEMPERANCE LEGAL¬ 
IZED— DEMAND FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION — APPEAL TO COUNTRY 
MERCHANTS — PARTNERSHIPS — UNDESIRABLE ASSOCIATES—THE 
FRIENDSHIPS OF COMMERCE. 209 — 254 

LECTURE VIII. 

DOMESTIC LIFE, AND LITERARY CULTURE, OF THE MAN 

OF BUSINESS. 

A COMPLAINT — A REPLICATION — CLAIMS OF HOME — CAUTIONS — 
AFFECTIONS RUSTED—MISERY AND HAPPINESS—WOMAN’S RIGHTS 
—INTUITION—TOO WISE FOR ADVICE—A FAITHFUL COUNSELLOR— 

THE PATTERN HOUSEWIFE — A DOMESTIC WOMAN — TASTE AND 
NEATNESS — A GRAVE INDICTMENT — HOW TO SET OUT IN LIFE 
—THE LAW OF KINDNESS—LITERARY OPPORTUNITIES OF MER¬ 
CHANTS— CRAMPING TENDENCIES OF TRADE — ADVANTAGES OF 
SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE — PROSERS — OCTAVOS IN MARCH — THE 
INDESTRUCTIBLE COINAGE — NEWSPAPERS—WHERE THE LOST 
TIME GOES — HINTS ON READING — A SHIELD AGAINST TEMPTA¬ 
TION— THE BOOK OF BOOKS. 255 — 308 

LECTURE IX. 

THE CLAIMS OF THE SABBATH UPON MERCHANTS. 

TESTIMONY OF A CLERK—DR. FARRE—THE SABBATH FOUNDED IN 

NATURE - DESIGN OF THE LAW — ALLOWED SECULARITIES - 

EVERY MAN’S RIGHT TO A SABBATH — TYRANNY OF AVARICE- 

THE LABOURER’S COTTAGE—RAILWAY-TRAFFIC—THE PLATFORM 
OF CHRISTIANITY — THE PALLADIUM OF LIBERTY — HOSTILE 
AGENCIES—THE LONDON POST-OFFICES — INSANITY — SAVING 

A DAY — MENTAL CULTURE — BROADER VIEWS OF LIFE - 

DOMESTIC RE-UNIONS — A MUNIFICENT GIFT. 309 — 346 





Xll 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE X. 

THE TRUE RICHES.—LIVING TO DO GOOD. 

PAGE 

RETIRING FROM BUSINESS — FATAL IMPROVIDENCE — ERROR IN A 

SPECIOUS GARB — NO SALVATION BY THE LAW - THE TRUE 

PLACE OF GOOD WORKS — THE INALIENABLE HERITAGE — ATHE¬ 
ISTIC TENDENCIES—A FIELD, WHITE TO THE HARVEST—PHILAN¬ 
THROPY AT LARGE — CORPORATE AND PERSONAL CHRISTIANITY 
—SHIP-OWNERS AND SAILORS—HUMANITY ABOVE MERCHANDIZE 
—OUR GREAT EXEMPLAR—EVANGELICAL MOTIVES—FREELY YE 
HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE — SUBTLETY OF AVARICE — THE 

OBLIGATIONS OF PROPERTY - A MAN TO BE REMEMBERED — 

BENEVOLENCE AND SELFISHNESS, REWARDED — THE ONE THING 

NEEDFUL. 347 — 385 


LECTURE XI. 

SUGGESTIONS TO YOUNG MEN ENGAGED IN MERCANTILE 

BUSINESS. 

A FUNERAL PAGEANT — THE VOICE OF PROVIDENCE — LIFE AT A 
HOTEL — RURAL INFLUENCES — METROPOLITAN SEDUCTIONS — 
ABORTIVE STRUGGLES — PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY — ENTER 
INTO THY CLOSET — THE DAY OF REST — GOOD POLICY TO KEEP 
THE SABBATH — CHURCH-GOING HABITS — PATHS OF DANGER — 
COSTLY CUSTOMERS — THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE — A LAST AP¬ 
PEAL. 387 — 420 




Xttlntt ^irst. 


THE CLAIMS OF THE MERCANTILE PROFESSION UPON 
THE PULPIT. 

An intelligent gentleman, a partner in an opulent 
commercial house, once said to me — “We could, 
without the least difficulty, increase our annual profits 
to the extent of several thousand dollars, if we were 
willing to conform to usages which are practised by 
many firms around us.” This observation made the 
deeper impression upon me, because I had just been 
reading a small volume,* the object of which was, 
not precisely to discuss, but by means of a fictitious 
narrative to illustrate, the question — “Is it possible, 
in the present state of things, to do a mercantile 
business successfully, on Christian principles ?” The 
author of this work, “A Counting-House Man,” 
without replying to the question categorically, incor¬ 
porates his answer with the facts of the narrative. 
His hero, an incorruptible young merchant, after a 


2 


Herbert Tracy. 


(13) 



14 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

brief commercial career in New York, fails; and the 
book leaves him driving his plough, a cheerful farmer, 
surrounded by a happy family, at Tarrytown. 

•Why are such books written? Why such obser¬ 
vations made ? If they were the fruit of pique, or 
sprang from mere transient impulses, they would 
merit little attention. But they have a different 
origin, and are clothed with a much deeper signifi¬ 
cance. They betray a pervading anxiety and dissat¬ 
isfaction among the mercantile community. They 
disclose the workings of the conscience which under¬ 
lies the commercial world. They show that men of 
principle are not at rest; that they distrust the 
received methods of business; that there are current 
frauds and dishonesties in the impetuous rivalries of 
trade, which it takes all their equanimity to keep 
them from denouncing in the market-places and at 
the corners of the streets; and that they them¬ 
selves are often harassed with questions of casuistry, 
which it requires a mature skill in the ethics of the 
New Testament to bring to a ready solution. The 
change which has come over the world within the 
last half-century is felt in the thoroughfares of com¬ 
merce even more than in legislative halls and eccle¬ 
siastical synods. The moderation, the composure, 
the gradual, spontaneous expansion of trade, the 
rational hours, and tranquil sleep, which belonged to 


FIFTY YEARS AGO. 


15 


a mercantile life fifty years since, have given place 
to universal and prolonged excitement, restless acti¬ 
vity, a competition 'which would not have disgraced 
the Isthmian games, an unquenchable passion for 
wealth, a subjugation of all the achievements of 
science and all the implements of art to the purposes 
of traffic, and a sacrifice of personal ease and 
domestic comfort which our fathers would no more 
have dreamed of than they would of spending life 
.in a railroad car. Whether this revolution could 
have been prevented, or whether it is not, on the 
whole, beneficial, is not a question now before us. 
We must take things as they are; and in this view, 
the perplexities and perils incident to a mercantile 
career are such as no intelligent and upright man 
can contemplate without emotion. The subject is 
certainly one of profound and growing interest to all 
who are concerned for the morals of the country. 
That it has a claim upon the sympathy and the 
friendly co-operation of the Pulpit, which has as yet 
been recognized only in a very inadequate degree, 
must be too apparent to require any special demon¬ 
stration. It may be doubted whether there is any 
work more imperatively needed, or one which would 
be more useful, than an able, judicious, and popular 
treatise on the application of Christian mora¬ 
lity TO THE AFFAIRS OF COMMERCE. The admi- 


16 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


Table volume on this subject by the late Dr. Chal¬ 
mers can never become superannuated. But, lumi¬ 
nous and eloquent as it is, like every thing which 
bears the impress of his great mind, it needs to be 
supplemented by a corresponding work, devoted to 
certain topics which it did not fall in his way to 
discuss, and adjusted to the modern usages of the 
trading world. It may require another Chalmers to 
supply this desideratum, but whoever shall furnish it 
will confer a lasting obligation, not only on the com¬ 
mercial classes, but on society at large. For, in 
truth, under our institutions, we are all implicated in 
the character of that profession. Reticulated as 
they are, from their numbers, their intelligence, their 
wealth and enterprise, with every political and every 
ecclesiastical institute, it is impossible to segregate 
them from the mass of the people — to put the 
merchants on one side and “ society’’ on the other. 
In the United States, society must be virtually what 
the merchants are. It reflects their morality, and 
uses their axioms in working out its cases of con¬ 
science. Every community has a stake in keeping 
up the barometers in its Counting-houses to the 
highest possible point. A downward tendency there 
is certain to be felt in every limb of the social struc¬ 
ture ; and whenever the mercury, by a simultaneous 
and rapid depression, indicates a general deterioration 


SOURCES OF DANGER. 


17 


of commercial integrity, ten thousand secret sluices 
begin to discharge their deadly poison around the 
roots of all public and all private virtue. 

Allusion has been made to the difficulty of main¬ 
taining an inflexible honesty in mercantile pursuits. 
This is no imaginary difficulty. The business of 
buying and selling involves a constant appeal to the 
principle of self-interest. There is danger in this 
even under propitious circumstances, as in the simple 
barter which is carried, on amongst the inhabitants 
of pastoral districts; and the temptations to dis¬ 
honesty are indefinitely multiplied in large manu¬ 
facturing or trafficking towns. Not to expatiate now 
on a topic which will frequently recur as we proceed, 
let it suffice to refer to the intense competition which 
prevails in every branch of business; to the number 
of unprincipled persons who betake themselves to 
merchandise for a livelihood; to the inexperience 
of multitudes who embark in trade; to the common 
effect of interest in misleading the conscience; and 
to the facile subserviency with which most individuals 
acquiesce in existing customs, without stopping to 
inquire whether they are sanctioned by the morality 
of the Scriptures. The dangers flowing from these 
and other sources are thickly strewn in the paths of 
commerce. They are subtle and imminent. They 
are permanent and cumulative. They are aggravated 
2 * 


18 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


by the risks and hazards from without, which are 
bound up in a business-life. The merchant’s motto 
is, and must be, “Nothing venture, nothing win.” 
He must trust his property in the hands of others, 
who are often strangers to him and living hundreds 
or thousands of miles off. He must send his ships to 
explore distant oceans, and to seek out untried 
markets. He must expose his goods to the perils 
of land and sea, and to the capricious changes of 
winds and climates. A political revolution abroad 
may fall with crushing force upon his house. A 
popular tumult, or a hasty act of legislation, at home, 
may thwart his plans and blast his prospects. And, 
amidst these varied hazards — under the pressure of 
reverses, successes, disappointments, unlooked-for 
contingencies, fluctuating markets, and fluctuating 
hopes — he is all the while dealing with questions 
not merely of loss and gain, but of right and wrong 
— questions frequently of an intricate nature, and 
really demanding mature study, but which he is 
obliged to dispose of on the spur of the moment.— 
Ho we err then, when we say that the Counting- 
room is a crucible to character ? Or, are we at fault 
in contending that the great and influential class 
who are cast into this fierce alembic, are entitled to 
the sympathy of all who can lend them a helping 
hand 9 To relieve them of their anxieties, to exone- 


GROUNDS OF HOPE. 


19 


rate them from all their risks, to transform the 
rugged path they are treading, into a broad, smooth, 
level causeway, is of course impracticable. The 
primeval curse is not to be annulled, and man must 
still live by the sweat of his brow. But the case 
of the merchant is not, therefore, a hopeless one. 
If we cannot remove all the obstructions from his 
path, we may a part. If we cannot shield him from 
every danger, we may from some. If we cannot 
clothe him with infallibility in resolving questions of 
duty, we may place in his hands a standard to which 
he can refer such questions w r ith the confidence that 
it will not deceive him. The equipment he needs, 
the only equipment which will at all meet the exi¬ 
gencies of his position, is true religion. The chart 
he requires, the only chart which defines with accu¬ 
racy the reefs and quicksands, the treacherous shoals 
and vagrant currents of the sea which he is traver¬ 
sing, is, the word of God. The Bible in the 
Counting-House : — this is the only specific which 
will at all meet the moral necessities of the business- 
world, or which can make it expedient for men to 
plunge into the perilous excitements of a life of 
traffic, who have any serious purpose of ever getting 
to heaven. To bring about this end, to inaugurate 
the Bible as the controlling authority in the marts 
of commerce, the acknowledged arbiter in matters of 


20 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


casuistry, and the test by which every usage is to 
stand or fall, this, surely, is an object worthy of the 
best exertions of all who desire the prosperity of 
religion and the welfare of their fellow-men. The 
humblest effort in this cause may claim to be received 
with indulgence; nor Will it have been put forth in 
vain, should it serve only to call the attention of abler 
moralists to this luxuriant and neglected field of 
practical Christianity. 

There may be those who will regard this as delicate 
ground. The pulpit has itself moulded a public sen¬ 
timent by which it is watched with a jealous eye, lest 
it shouldj venture upon themes that lie beyond its 
jurisdiction. Curiously enough, the territory which 
it is sought to sequester from all the aggressioiis of 
the sanctuary, is that which embraces the actual appli¬ 
cation of the Gospel to no small portion of the daily 
avocations of men. Upon the paths which men are 
treading for six days out of every seven, upon their 
husbandry and their handicraft, their shops and their 
warehouses, their hoarding and their disbursing, 
their legislation and their jurisprudence, there is. 
impressed the brand of a secularity so flagrant that 
the pulpit cannot venture into this arena, without 
contracting the taint of a grievous defilement! A 
pastor may, indeed, so far approach the boundary of 
this quarantined region, as to launch the denuncia- 


CRUDE CONCEPTIONS OF THE PULPIT. 


21 


tions of the violated law against all and singular of 
its busy tribes who transgress its high requisitions; 
but he must not go to them, to explain what the law 
demands of them, and how they are to keep within 
the line of its prescriptions. He may arraign the 
manufacturer or the trader on the broad score of dis¬ 
honesty, and set forth the penalty a retributive justice 
has attached to his misdeeds; but the sacredness 
of his office forbids him to take the Gospel and go 
With it into their mills and their counting-rooms, and 
aid them in applying its divine precepts to their 
respective avocations. And so it comes to pass, that 
when a Christian minister propounds for discussion 
one of these tabooed topics, he is quite likely, on the 
one hand, to wound the sensibilities of certain sincere 
and excellent people, who tremble to think of his 
degrading the Gospel into a mere scheme of morals; 
and, on the other, to disturb the equanimity of certain 
careless and somewhat unscrupulous devotees of mam¬ 
mon, who think he had better confine himself to his 
own sphere and leave them to theirs. 

Now, if the occasion called for it, it would be easy 
to show that these views proceed upon a radical mis¬ 
conception of the functions of the ministry. Un¬ 
doubtedly, the main office of the pulpit is to illustrate 
and enforce the great doctrines of revelation, and the 
duties of repentance towards God and faith in the 


22 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Lord Jesus Christ. There is a pregnant meaning in 
that declaration of the apostle, “ I determined not to 
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him 
crucified.” A crucified Saviour — redemption by the 
blood of Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit 
— as it is the grand, central theme of the New Testa¬ 
ment, so it must be the burden of every preacher who 
would save the souls of men. Nor is this essential 
only in respect to its connexion with forgiveness and 
spiritual renewal. It is no less indispensable as sup¬ 
plying the only solid basis and effectual guarantee of 
a holy life. Those persons who, in their prejudice 
against theological disquisitions, would restrict the 
pulpit to the inculcation of charity, forget that you 
cannot build a house without a foundation, or that if 
you do, it will as certainly tumble down as «do so 
many of the fragile structures which cupidity and 
recklessness run up in our cities. The xapjrag of the 
Bible — that divine love which clasps the whole 
human family in its embrace, and would wellnigh 
emulate the Saviour’s benevolence and “ lay down 
its life for the brethren” — draws its being from the 
truth, lives upon the truth, rejoices in the truth, 
conquers by the truth, and will yet bring the nations 
back to their allegiance to Christ through the truth. 
To attempt to array it against the truth, to argue in 
favour of preaching love as contrasted with preaching 


THEOLOGY AND MORALITY INSEPARABLE. 23 

doctrine, is as preposterous as it would be to contrast 
a stream with its fountain, or the fruit of a tree with 
its roots and sap. You may garnish over a bad 
character, or embellish an amiable one, by inculcating 
charity; but to expect in this way to transform a 
man into “a new creature,” is as unphilosophical as 
it is contrary to Scripture. There can be no intel¬ 
ligent piety where the understanding does not lead 
the way. Believe , and thou shalt be saved. 

But if morality is not to be preached without 
theology, neither is theology without morality. If 
Christianity makes its first appeal to the understand¬ 
ing, it does not rest there. If it reveals a heaven, it 
does not, like the god of the Epicureans, hold itself 
aloof from all fellowship with earth. It is a religion 
to live by, as well as to die by. As it challenges the 
homage of all mankind, so it exerts its prerogative 
over all human pursuits, and proffers its benign 
assistance to men of every character and occupation. 
The New Testament is one of the most practical of 
all works. Those who are so zealous for confining 
the pulpit to a stereotype round of subjects, to what 
may be defined as religious subjects, would do well to 
consider the generous commingling of moral precepts 
with the doctrinal utterances of the Saviour and his 
apostles. It may be worthy of their inquiry whether 
the Sermon on the Mount would fall within the sweep 


24 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


of that canon which they are anxious to impose on 
the ministrations of the sanctuary; and whether the 
closing portions of the Epistles, in the directory they 
present for the conduct of persons in the different 
relations of society, might not, under the same canon, 
lie open to a charge of legalism. Without illustrating 
this point in detail, take the following citations by 
way of example: 

Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute 
is due; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear; honour 
to whom honour. Owe no man anything but to love one 
another. 

We beseech you that ye study to be quiet, and to do your 
own business, and to work with your own hands, as we com¬ 
manded you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that 
are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. 

See that none render evil for evil unto any man ; but ever 
follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all 
men. 

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, 
that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For wc 
hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, 
working not at all, but are busy-bodies. Now them that are 
such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
with quietness they work and eat their own bread. 

Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down 
your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and 
the cries of them which have reaped; are entered into the ears 
of the Lord of Sabaoth. 


PRACTICAL GODLINESS. 


25 


Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not 
high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living 
God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. 

In this way the principles of religion are carried 
out and applied to the affairs *of every-day life. 
Men are not only exhorted in general terms to 
honesty, sobriety, and industry, but there is a specific 
adjustment of the perfect morality of the decalogue 
to their several relations and employments. It is 
reasonable to presume that if the world had been as 
commercial then as it is now, or if any large portion 
of those to whom the Saviour and his apostles imme¬ 
diately addressed themselves had been engaged in 
trade, the New Testament would have abounded still 
more than it does, in counsels, cautions, admonitions, 
and encouragements, appropriate to mercantile mat¬ 
ters. As it is, there is prominence enough assigned 
to this subject to warrant, and even enjoin, the 
ministers of religion to go directly into the abodes of 
Commerce, and publish to the great army of traffickers, 
the high requisitions of Christianity. This, indeed, 
is no less a work of philanthropy than a work of 
professional duty; for the field here contemplated 
has been a most disastrous one to human virtue. If 
its chronicles could be written, they would furnish as 
well some of the saddest, as some of the brightest, 
chapters in the annals of the race. To an eye gifted 
3 


26 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


with spiritual discernment, it is a field strewn with 
memorials of the dead, surpassing as much in their 
sorrowful significance as in their numbers, the hones 
which have whitened the soil of Leipsic or of Water¬ 
loo. Where War has slain its thousands, Commerce 
has slain its ten thousands: — with other weapons, 
indeed, and with a more terrible and far-reaching 
mortality. It presents to us no batteries .and bayo¬ 
nets, no blood and carnage. It strikes not at the 
body, although this sometimes falls, but at the soul. 
It smites with a secret leprosy, which spreads its 
fatal virus through the arteries, even where there is 
every outward indication of health and happiness. 
The victims it has sealed for destruction are, by turns, 
young men who constitute the flower of society; 
capitalists who are conspicuous in the circles of 
fashion; merchants whose names are a synonym on 
’Change for intelligence and efficiency; financiers 
who are treated with deference, because by their tact 
and shrewdness they have amassed a sudden fortune. 
These, and such as these, not unfrequently carry 
about with them the seeds of this moral plague, 
when they are for years together priding themselves 
on their good estate, and elated with the flatteries 
the -world is so ready to bestow upon its successful 
votaries. Is it not a work of philanthropy to go and 
apprize them of them danger ? Are these appliances 


DUTY OF THE MINISTRY. 


27 


and symbols of prosperity, which not only blind them 
to their real condition, but serve as inlets to the 
noxious malaria that is consuming them, to deprive 
them of the succour we would extend to sick or 
suffering poverty ? And is the Christian ministry, 
whose express mission it is to do good to all men, to 
withhold its salutary counsels from the multitudes, 
who, though not yet seized by these insidious mala¬ 
dies, are breathing an infected atmosphere and in 
’jeopardy every hour ? You cannot take the affirma¬ 
tive of these questions, without virtually impeaching 
the conduct and teachings of the inspired penmen. 
If we would tread in their steps, w T e must lend a 
helping hand to all who are making their way through 
the dense, chapper el-like temptations of a commercial 
life; and the very best thing we can do for them, the 
thing which they all need, the shrewdest and thriftiest 
even more than the dullest, is to aid them in install¬ 
ing the Bible in their Counting-Houses. There 
is no talismanic power in this to charm away tempta¬ 
tion; no “Open Sesame,” to disclose subterranean 
vaults of bullion which may be had for the asking; 
but there is a repository from which they may draw 
light and strength and patience and hope, to fit them 
for their duties, and bring them through all changes 
with a conscience void of offence towards Qod and 
towards man. 


28 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


It may give weight to these suggestions to reflect 
on the strong predilection for a mercantile life by 
which our countrymen are distinguished. To no peo¬ 
ple has so fine a field been presented for the culture 
of rural tastes, nor such opportunities for enjoying 
the substantial comforts of a country-life: but this is 
not to their liking. Agriculture is tame and passion¬ 
less. Our young men must have more scope for 
ambition, more society, and, above all, employments 
which will bring in quicker and ampler profits. It 
is no objection with them that the hazards of com¬ 
merce are far greater and its temptations more insi¬ 
dious ; that they may drudge like slaves, and have 
little or nothing to show for it; that a very large 
proportion of the merchants in every city fail, and 
they may fail too. They admit all this, but it is 
more than counterpoised by the spectacle of huge 
fortunes made in a day. The tales of sudden wealth, 
which go out from our Atlantic cities, are rehearsed 
in the hamlets of the interior with something of the 
fascination excited in the olden time by the feats of 
crusaders and knights-errant. The brilliant specula¬ 
tions we so often see chronicled in the newspapers, 
have, no doubt, decided the question of duty with 
many a youth, who was considering to what occupa¬ 
tion he should devote himself. In any event, there 
is no village in the land which does not contribute its 


A WORD FOR AGRICULTURE. 


29 


recruits to that vast array of clerks and junior part¬ 
ners which constitutes so important a part of the 
effective force of commerce. If a foreigner, curious 
in such matters, wished to compare the natives of 
the different portions of the Republic, down to the 
remotest savannas and the most secluded valleys, the 
best thing he could do, would be to attend a general 
meeting of one of our “ Mercantile Library Associa¬ 
tions.” From every quarter the tide sets with a 
steady flow towards the depots of commerce. And 
so powerful is this current, that we must make up 
our minds, for the present, to see the greater part of 
our children drawn into it. Here and there a young 
man of metropolitan birth astonishes his friends by 
turning farmer. And it is gratifying to see that 
retired merchants are beginning to wake up to the 
fact that the globe is not all covered with rows of 
houses and stores, and that there are some sources of 
rational enjoyment beyond the pavement. This feel¬ 
ing ought to be fostered. It will promote that atten¬ 
tion to husbandry which is already elevating agricul¬ 
ture amongst us from the debasement of a mere 
handicraft to the dignity of a science. It will develop 
our resources. It will embellish the country with 
those well-tilled farms and tasteful homes, which 
make the rural districts of England so delightful to 
the traveller. It will help to correct the earthly and 
3 * 


30 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


sordid tendencies in our national character. It will 
give position and stability to our farming population, 
and invigorate those virtues on which the prosperity 
of States mainly depends, and which have usually 
found their most genial home among the cultivators 
of the soil. 

“ Ill fares the land, to hast’ning ills a prey, 

Where wealth accumulates, and men decay : 

Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade: 

A breath can make them, as a breath has made: 

But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride, 

When once destroyed, can never be supply’d.” 

We are not in immediate danger, certainly, from 
this source; but it will be of no ultimate advantage 
to the country, if our children are trained, whether 
by precept or example, to disparage agricultural 
pursuits as inferior in respectability, in usefulness, 
or in true independence, to a life of traffic. And 
every indication of an opposite kind is to be hailed as 
a conservative and patriotic movement in the right 
direction. — Still, commerce will continue to assert 
its claims, and they will be acknowledged. Merchants 
may become bankrupt; banks and insurance com¬ 
panies may fail; financial crises may ever and anon 
spread disaster and ruin through all the world of 
trade; capitalists may remonstrate, and moralists 
admonish; but the mass of our young men will flock, 


COMMERCE AND THE PUBLIC MORALS. 31 


as they have done, to the marts of business. And, 
dealing with this as a practical question, we are not 
merely to inquire into the wisdom and expediency of 
their course, but to lend them such help as we may 
in meeting the perils and difficulties before them. 

These considerations may suffice to show that the 
mercantile body have a real and urgent claim upon 
the pulpit for all the assistance it can render them — 
a claim based upon their numbers, their dangers, and 
the essential difficulty of applying the principles of 
Christian morals to the endless and abrupt contin¬ 
gencies of a life of traffic. But it must further be 
taken into the account, as already hinted, that this 
is not a mere class-question, a matter affecting simply 
the commercial interest. The whole country has a 
deep stake in the character of its merchants. It is 
they who regulate in a great measure the current 
morality of our cities, and our cities in turn make 
their mark upon the nation at large. How potent 
this must be, may be seen by any one who will reflect 
upon the boundless resources of every kind, physical, 
financial, and intellectual, which are employed in 
mercantile business. Look at the imposing array of 
banks, insurance companies, loan offices, and general 
agencies, concentrated in every large city; look at 
the daily newspaper press; look at the fleets of ships 
and steamers at the wharves, the railroads clasping 


32 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING HOUSE. 

distant States together with bands of iron, the tele¬ 
graphic wires along which the subjugated lightning, 
“ tamed by one of our countrymen, and taught to 
speak by another,” flies with its news, outstripping 
time itself: — all these are the implements of com¬ 
merce, and have their share in giving tone and direc¬ 
tion to the moral sentiment of the country. To this 
must be superadded the entire mercantile transactions 
of a nation like ours — the exchanges, the credits, 
the buying and selling, the contracts of every type 
and grade, involving the daily transfer from hand to 
hand of millions of dollars — all which goes, however 
imperceptibly, to fix the general standard of morals. 
And this view derives additional force from the 
reflection, that the people are identified wdth the 
government. The agency which fashions their mo¬ 
rality, decides the moral tone of our legislation. 
Comparatively few” mercantile men are seen in our 
legislative assemblies: they are otherwise employed, 
and cheerfully relinquish to others the honour of mak¬ 
ing and administering the laws. But their influence 
is there, and tells, often with a plenary, though noise¬ 
less, influence, upon the general course of administra¬ 
tion. The purity of our government could not long 
survive the extinction or radical decay of commercial 
integrity throughout the Union. 

We may take still another step. The character 


OUR TRUE REPRESENTATIVES. 


33 


of our merchants is so far from being a mere question 
of caste , that it involves our national reputation for 
probity, all over the globe. The Imports of the 
United States for the last fiscal year amounted to 
$207,000,000, and the Exports to $150,000,000; to 
which must he added, foreign merchandise re-exported 
$17,000,000, and $42,000,000 of specie. This enor¬ 
mous traffic was, of course, in the hands of our 
merchants. It carried them, or their deputies, to 
every accessible country. It brought them in con¬ 
tact with people of every government and religion, 
from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope, from Tur¬ 
key, through the Pillars of Hercules, to Cape Horn 
and China. Our flag floated from the masts of their 
majestic clippers, in the harbours of Sydney and Val¬ 
paraiso, of Macao and Monrovia, of Trieste and Ta¬ 
hiti, of Bombay and Archangel. In these, and hun¬ 
dreds of ports besides, they were the chief, not to say 
the only, representatives of our great confederation. 
By them were we to stand or fall, in the judgment 
of these numerous tribes and governments, as an 
honourable or a profligate nation. What we might 
be as to our political institutions, our schools and our 
churches; how opulent we might be in material or in 
intellectual wealth; who were our leading statesmen 
and jurists, our physicians and divines, our manufac - 
turers and agriculturists; these were points about 


84 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

which they would give themselves little concern. But 
could they rely upon the men they were trafficking 
with? Did their goods answer to the labels? Were 
their bills of exchange genuine ? Were they men of 
substance, trading on an actual capital, or men of 
straw, trading on craft and effrontery? These are 
the questions that would interest them, and by the 
solutions to which they were brought, would the sen¬ 
timent go forth through their respective communities 
and countries, that the nation to which it is your boast 
and mine to belong, was a fraternity of sharpers, or 
a fraternity of high-minded men. It were idle to 
protest against such conclusions. Sweeping they 
may be, and unwarranted by the premises; but to 
so lofty a pitch of dignity and power has commerce 
attained in the progress of modern civilization, that 
every trading nation must count upon being judged 
by its merchants. The world is ruled by money. 
The real Colossus that presides over Cabinets, and 
sways the fleets and armies of the world, is gold. 
The gravest questions of state in European diplo¬ 
macy, are not unfrequently determined by private 
capitalists. Many a Cabinet has been obliged to 
postpone favourite measures, until they had been 
canvassed in a certain small parlour at Frankfort-on- 
the-Maine, by a firm, the heads of which belong to 
a proscribed religion, The spectacle of Kings and 


THE TRIUMPH OF TRADE. 


35 


their ministers awaiting the nod of a Jewish Banker, 
presents us with the finest possible illustration of that 
gradual, but mighty, revolution which has taken the 
Spirit of Trade out of the mire, and enthroned it 
over crowns and sceptres. The sun and the moon and 
the stars of the political firmament, doing obeisance to 
a subject who has neither political place nor power ! 
Who can wonder, after this, that nations should be 
gauged by what they are in the market ? That the 
inquiry should be, not, “Have they a fruitful soil, 
populous cities, ample wealth — are they brave and 
enterprising, intelligent and efficient, polite and 
refined?” but, “Do they pay their debts? Can you 
trust them? When you sell them a bill of goods, 
will you ever see the money for it?” These are 
the probes wdiich are now used by the commercial 
nations; implements somewhat coarse, it may be, and 
not always handled with the delicate manipulation of 
scientific surgery, but likely, after all, to reach the 
vital parts, and detect the actual state of things there. 
And, whether we relish it or not, we must acknow¬ 
ledge that this ordeal is the natural appendage of a 
system which has substituted cotton-mills for cannon- 
foundries, school-houses for barracks, and the autoc¬ 
racy of the purse for the despotism of the sword. 

The inference to be drawn from the fact here 
stated, is a very obvious one. You have, I believe, 


36 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

as a common medium of trade, what are called 
Pattern-cards , by which you buy and sell large 
quantities of goods, without ever seeing the goods 
themselves. Our importers, with their army of mer¬ 
cantile and nautical subalterns, are our Pattern- 
cards. It matters not that they may not bear our 
brand, and that, as to some of them, we might 
scruple a long while before we could consent to 
stamp them. They will be accredited abroad in the 
function they have assumed, and we shall be bought 
and sold by them, whether the samples happen to 
accord with the goods in bulk or not. We have, 
therefore, a broad, national interest in their character. 
It behooves us, as we value our good name as a 
people, or as w^e wish to propagate the principles of 
republican freedom, to look well to the training and 
conduct of our merchants. If we can maintain a 
universal and unsullied reputation for commercial 
integrity, it will not only be deemed by the nations 
to compensate for our admitted frailties, but go far 
to retrieve the prejudices which might be excited 
against our institutions by the occasional mal-admin- 
istration of our public affairs. 

Such are some of the grounds which seem to entitle 
Commercial topics to a place in the ministrations of 
the sanctuary. It would be the height of presumption 



ORIGIN OF THESE LECTURES. 


37 


in me to undertake a comprehensive and thorough 
exposition of the morals of trade. It is with no 
affected humility I say it, I have no capacity for that 
task. But having lived now for many years in the 
bosom of a mercantile community, I wish to acquit 
myself of an obligation to you which has long pressed 
upon my conscience. Without essaying any elabo¬ 
rate discussion of principles, there are various mat¬ 
ters lying on the surface of the subject, which it 
mUy serve a useful purpose to consider. I aspire to 
nothing beyond hints and suggestions. On some 
points, it may devolve upon me to express opinions 
at variance with the received doctrines in the walks 
of commerce. But it will be my aim to test every 
sentiment and usage by “the law and the testimony.” 
And I shall esteem myself amply rewarded, if these 
Lectures should be at all instrumental in fostering a 
healthy moral sentiment in our business circles, or in 
assisting you to establish the Bible in your Count¬ 
ing-Houses. 

A single word in conclusion. I have just spoken 
of installing the Bible in your Counting-Houses. 
There is but one method in which this can be done 
effectually. It must first be enthroned in your hearts. 
Jf you do not love its morality, you will not practise 
it. And to love its morality, you must first love its 
Saviour. If you trust in Him as your Redeemer, 
4 


38 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


you will cheerfully serve Him as your King. Loy¬ 
alty to Christ flows from faith and love, as naturally 
as light from the sun. And all who are united to 
Him, not in the way of a mere formal profession, but 
with a true and constant affiance, are certain to have 
his own gracious words verified to them, “My yoke 
is easy, and my burden is light.” 


THE RULE OF RECTITUDE. 


39 



lulure 


THE STANDARD OF COMMERCIAL RECTITUDE. 


. People wlio frequent the Philadelphia market, 
are in the habit of meeting there an important per¬ 
sonage, who passes from stall to stall and waggon to 
waggon, and with a magisterial air, casts certain of 
the products of the dairy into his scales, which, if 
they be found wanting, he confiscates to the public 
treasury. What would be the result, if an official, 
clothed with the authority of the government, and 
supernaturally endowed with the requisite penetra¬ 
tion and firmness, could go through all the haunts of 
commerce, equipped with the balances of the sanc¬ 
tuary, the Word of God, and subject every fabric 
and every usage of the trading world to this unerring 
test ? Is it possible to conceive of any greater revo¬ 
lution in the wide realm of merchandise, than that 
which would be involved in adjusting the totality of 
its customs and its transactions to this, the only 
righteous, standard ? What reformations would there 


40 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

be in weights and measures and labels, in service and 
in salaries, in the stereotype dialect of trafficking, 
in the endless expedients for entrapping the ignorant 
and misleading the unwary, for injuring rival houses, 
for depreciating goods in the buying of them and 
enhancing them in the selling, for creating a facti¬ 
tious credit and oppressing upright insolvents ! What 
activity would there be in extricating trust-funds 
from illegal and perilous investments! What revi¬ 
sions of invoices ! What remodelled instructions to 
captains and supercargoes ! What retractions of 
custom-house oaths! What an augmentation of 
duties! What commotion at the stock - exchange ! 
What a gathering up of bank-capital, to restore it to 
its legitimate channels ! 

This is not to say that truth and honesty have 
been ostracised out of the domain of commerce. It 
is not to admit that the Roman mythology assigned 
Mercury his proper place in making him the god of 
merchants, orators, and thieves. This may have been 
apposite enough among them; and the merchants of 
Rome doubtless had their own reasons for observing 
an annual festival in honour of their patron, on 
which occasion they offered sacrifices in his temple, 
and besought him to forgive whatever artful mea¬ 
sures, false oaths, or falsehoods, they had used or 
uttered in the pursuit of gain. But the imaginary 


EQUIVOCAL PRACTICES. 


41 


scene just sketched, carries with it no impeachment 
of the general integrity of the commercial classes: 
that, happily, is beyond the reach of suspicion. It 
recognizes, however, the prevalence, more or less 
extensive, of practices which are as freely admitted 
as they are deeply deplored, by upright and intel¬ 
ligent merchants. These practices are not covertly 
hinted at, or talked of iri a whisper. They are 
among the common-places of the street and the 
Exchange, too notorious to be denied, and too mis¬ 
chievous not to be felt. That they are not met with 
a more decisive reprobation, and scourged out of the 
arena of honourable traffic, as the buyers and sellers 
were driven out of the temple, is to be ascribed, in 
some measure, to that lax morality which has so 
entrenched itself in the business-world as to hamper 
the freedom even of those who abhor it. And this, 
in turn, is to be traced to the substitution of false 
standards of virtue, for the law of God. This law 
has suffered no abatement in consequence of the 
coming of Christ. It is as much a rule of duty to us 
as it was to the generations that 'lived before the 
advent. He came, not to destroy, but to fulfil it. 
And, in his exposition of it, he has not only ratified 
every jot and tittle of the decalogue, but added a 
“ new commandment.” “ Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and 


42 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

with all thy strength and with all thy mind; and thy 
neighbour as thyself.” “All things whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even to 
them: for this is the law and the prophets.” This 
is the Scripture code. It is no local or temporary 
enactment. It extends to all times, all countries, all 
classes, all transactions. It is no chameleon-like 
scheme, which takes its hue from the interests with 
which it may happen to come in contact. It knows 
no variableness, nor shadow of turning. It speaks 
the same language in the palace as in the cottage, 
on the banks of the Ganges as on the banks of the 
Delaware. It is a stranger alike to fear and favour, 
to pity and resentment. Creation has not wealth 
enough to bribe it. The most evanescent emotion 
that flits across the human breast, is not subtle 
enough to elude it. The threats of power and 
revenge, are shivered upon it, like spears upon a 
granite rock. The appeals of interest and affection 
recoil from it, like the waves which break and die at 
the base of Carmel. 

This is the august and immutable standard of 
morality, which demands the homage of the eager 
tribes of commerce, of whatever clime, or tongue, or 
occupation. Impressed with the image and super¬ 
scription of the only Lord of the conscience, it claims 
to be installed in every counting-room, and whereso- 


EXPEDIENCY. 


43 


ever men may meet for traffic. And if the claim 
were as universally conceded as it is urged, that 
auspicious transformation would pass over the wide 
domain of Commerce, which was described in the 
opening of this Lecture. But this code is too pure 
and too just to suit the masses in any country. And 
there is a constant disposition to substitute for it 
some other, which will bend to men’s passions and 
interests. 

There are, for example, in every great trading 
community, individuals whose only rule of conduct is 
Expediency. Bight and wrong are with them mere 
professional technicalities. Questions of casuistry are 
as regularly ciphered out as the details of a balance- 
sheet. If a transaction promises to promote their 
interest, it is right; if not, it is wrong. If a lie will 
answer a better purpose than the truth, it would be 
effeminate not to use it. If they can take the advan¬ 
tage of a customer, without being detected, they 
would be faithless to themselves to let the opportunity 
slip. I say, “ without being detectedfor it must 
not be supposed that this class of persons have cast 
off all outward decorum. Far from it. It is one of 
the elements which enter into their current calcula¬ 
tions, how far they can go in this or that direction 
without being exposed, and whether any proposed 
measure can be adopted without a sacrifice of their 


44 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

reputation. They are so graphically delineated by 
the great Coryphaeus of the school to which they 
belong, that I am tempted to quote his own words. 
In considering the question, “ whether Princes ought 
to be faithful to their engagements,” Macbiavelli 
observes, “ It is not necessary for a Prince to possess 
all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is 
indispensable that he should appear to have them. 
He should earnestly endeavour to gain the reputation 
of kindness, clemency, piety, justice, and fidelity to 
his engagements. He ought to possess all these good 
qualities, but still retain such power over himself as 
to display their opposites whenever it may be expe¬ 
dient. He should habituate himself to bend easily 
to the various circumstances which may from time to 
time surround him. In a word, it will be as useful 
to him to persevere in the path of rectitude, while he 
feels no inconvenience in doing so, as to know how 
to deviate from it when circumstances dictate such a 
course. He should make it a rule, above all things, 
never to utter anything which does not breathe of 
kindness, justice, good faith, and piety : this last 
quality it is most important for him to appear to 
possess, as men in general judge more from appear¬ 
ances than from reality.”* 


* The Prince, chap, xviii. 



MACHIAVELLIANISM. 


45 


The cool atrocity of this deliverance may at first 
suggest a doubt, whether the system it defines really 
has its disciples as well among merchants as poli¬ 
ticians. But the distinctive characteristic of the 
system, is, policy as opposed to principle. In this 
view there are, it is to be feared, as many Machia¬ 
vellian merchants as politicians. They are men who, 
at heart, sneer at the “ precision” and “ scrupulosity” 
of firms which are controlled by Christian integrity. 
They have no conception of a virtue which brings no 
cash with it. “ Honesty, like every other commodity, 
has its market value. 4 Too much honesty won’t 
pay.’ What reason is there in being so very 6 up¬ 
right,’ when your neighbours are all outstripping 
you? If it is lawful to traffic at all, it must be 
proper to resort to such expedients as will insure you 
success in your operations. The main thing at 
present is to ‘ make money.’ The sooner that is 
accomplished the better. And then it will do to talk 
of ‘ doing to others as you wish others to do to you.’ ” 
— These are the maxims, 

-“ uttered or unexpressed,” 

of the class of men we are speaking of. The only 
authority of which they have any dread, is the 
statute-book. If they can keep out of the hands of 
the Grand Jury, and carry a fair exterior among 



46 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


men of honourable sentiments, they are satisfied. 
And this they are frequently able to do, by means 
of proxies. The machinery of commerce and finance 
is now so complete, that the mechanism itself is all - 
that appears: the power that moves it is out of sight. 
You may stand behind the curtain, nay, you may 
even sit among the audience, and work the ropes and 
pullies that control the shifting panorama, without 
seeming to have any more agency in the exhibition 
than the spectators around you. This is constantly 
done by men of integrity: it promotes despatch, con¬ 
venience, and efficiency. But of course, it is very 
liable to abuse. Unprincipled operators wield it to 
good purpose. Many a Shylock sits in his quiet 
office, during business-hours, with his hands upon the 
lever which is crushing his neighbours’ hearts. They 
writhe under the terrific engine, and look one way 
and another for help. But no help comes. The 
fatal hour of three draws on, and another turn of the 
thumb-screw tells them what mercy they are to 
expect. “Mercy?” 

“ You might as well go stand upon the beach, 

And bid the main flood bate his usual height; 

You might as well use question with the wolf, 

Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; 

You might as well forbid the mountain pines 
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, 

When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ; 


A SHYLOCK. 


47 


You might as well do anything most hard, 

As seek to soften that, (than which what’s harder ?) 

His mercenary heart.” 

lie has but one passion, one principle, one end, 
one god, himself. What is it to him that hearts 
are crushed; that deserving men have in desperation 
thrown themselves into his machine of torture, and 
that with every turn of the wheel, not only they, but 
a wife and children, are wrenched and racked. 
This is their misfortune, hut not his fault. He is no 
more to blame for it, than is the fire or the water 
which drives the enginery, for the death of the man 
who is drawn into the whirling mass and killed. 
They were seeking their own advantage. He is 
doing no more. Their reverse^ cannot be charged 
upon him. The propositions he now makes, they are 
not bound to accede to; nor can he be required to 
forego an opportunity for a profitable bargain. It 
is an every-day transaction, too simple and too 
common to raise scruples or excite feeling in any 
quarter. 

If this is a strong case, it is none the less apposite 
for illustrating the true working of the principle of 
Expediency, when thoroughly carried out as a rule 
of conduct in commercial life. It may be hoped that 
the number of individuals who have wedded them¬ 
selves to it with all this recklessness of moral obliga- 


48 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

tion, is very small: but whether few or many, they 
must be regarded, whenever known, as the oppro¬ 
brium of the mercantile profession. They prove, at 
least, that Commerce has its racks and inquisitors, no 
less than the Church. 

If an illustration of this topic on a broader scale 
be needed, there is one at hand, which has too often 
engaged the attention of the Christian world not to 
be familiar to you all. I refer not to the slave-trade, 
but to a traffic which is second only to that in atrocity, 
to wit: the British opium-trade in China. “ In put¬ 
ting down the slave-trade,” says a very intelligent 
English writer, “ it was not considered too much to 
maintain a naval force on the coast of Africa; and, 
to abolish slavery i^ the British dominions, the sum 
of twenty millions was willingly sacrificed; yet sla¬ 
very was not productive of more misery and death 
than the opium traffic, nor were Britons more impli¬ 
cated in the former than in the latter.”*—The facts 
are in a nutshell. The Chinese are passionately fond 
of opium. It is at once the most fascinating and the 
most destructive poison they could use, greatly sur¬ 
passing intoxicating spirits in both these respects. 
“ In proportion,” says Mr. Medhurst, “ as the wretched 
victim comes under the power of the infatuating drug, 


* MedhursUs China. 



THE OPIUM-TRADE. 


49 


so is his ability to resist temptation less strong; and, 
debilitated in body as well as in mind, he is unable 
to earn his usual pittance, and not unfrequently sinks 
under the cravings of an appetite which he is unable 
to gratify. Thus they may be seen, hanging their 
heads by the doors of the opium shops, which the 
hard-hearted keepers, having fleeced them of their 
all, will not permit them to enter; and shut out from 
their own dwellings, either by angry relatives or 
ruthless creditors, they die in the streets, unpitied 
and despised.” “ Every opium-smoker may calculate 
upon shortening his life ten years from the time when 
he commences the practice : one-half of his physical 
energies are soon gone; one-third of his scanty earn¬ 
ings are soon absorbed; and, feeling strength and 
income both diminishing, while the demands upon his 
resources are increased, he seeks to obtain by dupli¬ 
city what he cannot earn by labour; and thus his 
moral sense becomes blunted and his heart hardened, 
while he plunges into the vortex of ruin, dragging 
with him his dependent relatives and all within the 
sphere of his influence. Calculating, therefore, the 
shortened lives, the frequent diseases, and the actual 
starvation, which are the result of opium-smoking in 
China, we may venture to assert that this pernicious 
drug annually destroys myriads of individuals.” The 
Emperors have steadily refused to legalize the traffic. 
5 


50 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Animated by a paternal regard for their subjects 
and an enlightened estimate of the true prosperity 
of the realm, they have by repeated edicts prohibited 
its introduction into the country, under the most 
rigorous penalties. Bribery, however, nullifies these 
edicts; and the infamous traffic goes on under the 
very eyes of the government officials around Canton. 
The extent to which the nation is becoming debauched 
by this poison, may be inferred from the rapid in¬ 
crease in the trade, as appears from the following 
statement: — 

1816 .... Chests, 3,210 .... Value, $3,657,000 

1825 .... “ 9,621 .... “ 7,608,206 

1836 .... “ 27,111 .... “ 17,904,248 

1850 .... “ 60;000 .... “ 40,000,000 

It has now reached, it will be seen, the enormous 
sum of $40,000,000 (of which $15,000,000 goes into 
the British Exchequer), and this amount is annually 
withdrawn from China in solid silver. The opium is 
raised in India, where the natives in certain districts 
are compelled, under pains and penalties, by their 
British rulers, to cultivate the poppy for the sole 
benefit of the government. The government sells it 
to merchants, at a large profit, who, in turn, ship it 
to China. The most urgent remonstrances have been 
from time to time addressed to the East India Com- 


BRITISH RAPACITY. 


51 


pany, the India Government, and the British Parlia¬ 
ment, against the traffic, hut without the least avail. 
So little sympathy, indeed, have the imperial autho¬ 
rities with these remonstrances, that they actually 
engaged in a war with the Chinese, some years since, 
because the latter undertook to enforce their own 
ordinances against the opium-trade; and several 
millions of dollars were wrested from them, at the 
cannon’s mouth, in payment for opium they had 
cajised to be destroyed. Here is Christianity on one 
side, and Paganism on the other. Paganism is try¬ 
ing to shelter its subjects from one of the worst 
curses which can light upon a nation, and Christianity 
insists upon blasting and destroying them, even 
though it cost a war to accomplish its purpose. This 
is an edifying spectacle to the unevangelized world — 
and happily a unique one. With a single exception, 
no similar example of rapacity disgraces the history 
of modern commerce. That exception was the mag¬ 
nanimous attempt made by the Cabinet of the late 
Louis Philippe to force French brandies and Popish 
missionaries upon the poor Sandwich Islanders, by 
means of powder and ball. This was not much out 
of character for a government which was covertly 
swayed by the Jesuits. But surely something better 
might have been expected of a great Protestant 
nation, which boasts of its Christianity, and rebukes 


52 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

with so magisterial an air, the real or supposed 
delinquencies of other nations. 

This case is a pertinent one, in illustration of the 
topic we are considering. The sole principle recog¬ 
nized in this contraband traffic, is expediency. The 
question of its moral rectitude, seems not to have 
disturbed the complacency either of the merchants 
engaged in it, the East India Company, or the British 
government. It is “ expedient” that they should get 
thirty or forty millions of dollars annually out of the 
Chinese, over and above the liberal profits on their 
lawful trade; and the right or wrong of the thing is 
not to be listened to. If the Chinese were a powerful 
nation, it might be “ inexpedient” to press this traffic 
upon them. England very Avell knows what would 
follow, if a French fleet should enter the Thames and 
demand a free ingress yearly for several millions of 
French wines and laces. But China is very weak, 
and England is very strong; and as England wants 
the silver, this settles the morality of the question. 
The sufferings inflicted upon the wretched natives, 
are nothing to the purpose. Poverty, emaciation, 
starvation of families, premature and horrible death, 
wide-spread misery and ruin — these are no more to 
the dealers in the pestiferous poison, than are the 
anguish and desperation of the unfortunate debtor 
to the relentless creditor, who is resolved upon 


MUTUAL ASSIMILATION. 


53 


his “pound of flesh.” Their standard is expediency; 
and expediency is as much a stranger to sensibility 
as to true integrity. It has no heart, as it has no 
conscience. And, whether you encounter it in Cabi¬ 
nets or in individuals, it will facilitate your negotia¬ 
tions with it to remember, that it has but one sense, 
recognizes but one standard, aims at but one end, 
and is swayed by one motive — self-interest. — Be¬ 
ware of the morality which has policy, not principle, 
for its foundation. 

Your great danger, however, lies in another direc¬ 
tion. The social element in our nature occasions 
more or less of mutual assimilation in every organized 
community, from the family to the commonwealth. 
No sooner are wo brought into intimate fellowship 
with other persons than we begin reciprocally to 
mould each other’s characters. A variety of colla¬ 
teral agencies may contribute to retard or accelerate 
this process: where self-interest comes to reinforce 
it, it is usually carried forward with energy. The 
beneficial results of this principle are numerous and 
decisive. Providence employs it in many ways for 
the well-being of individuals and the general improve¬ 
ment of society. But it has also its adverse results. 
And among these must be reckoned, the disposition to 
make the community itself the arbiter in questions 
of morals. This is not done of deliberate and set 
5 * 


54 THE BIBLE IX THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


purpose. It is the spontaneous effect of the assimi¬ 
lating element in humanity — the tendency to do 
what others do, and to take it for granted that what 
has the general sanction must be allowable. Con¬ 
sidering what man is, it would be a marvel, if codes 
of morals formed in this way were not radically 
defective: for the stream cannot rise higher than its 
fountain. In some communities they are, of course, 
better than in others. There is scarcely any class 
or association which is without its peculiar code, its 
body of unwritten maxims and usages, which, like the 
common law, has been handed down from one gene¬ 
ration to another, and is clothed with all the authority 
of regular statutory enactments. Even among thieves 
there is a law of honour. And Mr. Borrow tells us 
of a gipsy mother, who said to her child, “ Now that 
you have said your prayers, you may go and steal.” 
The Spartan code made the sin to consist, not in the 
stealing, but in the detection. The gipsy-code made 
the sin to consist in stealing without prayer. Some 
Diogenes might be cynical enough to insinuate, that 
there are civilized people who act upon the maxim, 
“Say your prayers, and then steal.” Schools have 
their decalogue. It is apt to be one which is very 
tolerant of idleness and of equivocation. Straight¬ 
forward honesty in dealing with a master, is not one 
of its provisions. In many schools, if a boy is skilful 


CONVENTIONAL ^MORALITY. 


55 


in deceiving his teacher, he is applauded for his tact 
and smartness. If they acknowledged the Bible- 
code, such a boy would lose caste: as it is, the youth 
may lose caste who rigidly conforms to that code. 
The flexible morality of politics has passed into a 
proverb, which is used to sanctify all sorts of craft 
and falsehood. The man who in the midst of an 
exciting canvass, should insist upon a literal adhe¬ 
rence to the high morality of the Scriptures, in all 
the details and with all the agents of the contest, 
would be regarded very much as a guest who should 
appear at a social entertainment in the costume of 
the age of Queen Elizabeth. “ All’s fair in politics 
how preposterous, then, to bring out the antiquated 
ethics of Moses, to control the elections of a great 
nation in the nineteenth century! The Bar , it is 
alleged, has a traditionary code not coincident in all 
respects with the Sermon on the Mount, and tolerant 
of some customs which an advocate like Paul would 
hardly have resorted to, either before the Sanhedrim or 
the Areopagus. That this standard should be frowned 
upon by the better portion of the Profession, is hon¬ 
ourable to them and conducive to the ends of justice. 
But there are many things nestling under its shade, 
which, if the Bible could be brought to bear upon 
them, would speed away like a fleet of Malay pirates 
on the approach of a steam-frigate. 


56 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


In asserting that Commerce also lias its conven¬ 
tional standards of morality, it is not meant that 
there are no merchants who adhere to the true 
standard. This would be a gross calumny. But 
merchants who bear this character, will be the last 
to deny the fact (for they feel the pressure of it in 
maintaining their own principles), that the “ custom 
of trade” goes far in every business-community to 
supersede the law of God. Every man who embarks 
in business, encounters, at the outset, a most insidi¬ 
ous temptation “to put his conscience in commission.” 
He finds various practices, more or less current, which, 
if tested by “the law and the testimony,” must be 
condemned. But they have the sanction of the com¬ 
mercial body; and does it become him, a tyro in 
trade, to set himself up as more righteous than his 
neighbours, and to censure usages which are inter¬ 
laced with the whole modern system of merchandize ? 
This question meets him under the most unpropitious 
circumstances. Eor, in the first place, the party 
concerned will, not improbably, have become familiar¬ 
ized with these usages in his previous training. His 
clerkship'brought him into contact with them; and 
he will still recall at times the feeling of astonishment 
and revulsion excited in his mind when, fresh from 
his father’s house, with all the ingenuousness of a 
virtuous youth, his employer first laid some service 


MISGIVINGS SUPPRESSED. 


57 


upon him which he felt to be an infraction of the 
Divine law. The mental struggles of his novitiate 
may have been painful and protracted; but in the 
end, he will be apt to regard these early misgivings 
as the promptings of a too scrupulous conscientious¬ 
ness, and to acquiesce in the customs which awakened 
them as, on the whole, indispensable to the prosecu¬ 
tion of business. And, then, in th^ second place, Ids 
stand-point is one of the worst he could occupy for 
looking at the question in all its bearings. The 
demon of self-interest is at his elbow, 

-“ well stor’d with subtle wiles,” 

and plying him with such arguments as the Serpent 
used when, 

“ "With burnish’d neck of verdant gold, erect 
Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass 
Floated redundant,” 

he whispered in the ear of our first mother, a Ye 
shall not surely die.” It takes a clear-sighted man 
to see that his duty lies one way when his interest 
seems to point another. And this difficulty is in¬ 
creased with merchants, not only by reason of the 
haze which the “ custom of trade” has thrown around 
such questions, but by the necessity they are often 
under of deciding them without time for deliberation. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that so many should 


58 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


content themselves with taking business as they find 
it, and falling in with the established routine of 
traffic, without going to the trouble of investigating 
the morality of every practice. 

To illustrate the working of the artificial code thus 
quietly inaugurated over the realm of commerce, 
would be to anticipate topics which may come up in 
future Lectures. JBut, by way of example, does not 
the established phraseology of the trading classes be¬ 
tray the existence and the potential efficacy of such 
a code ? That trade should have its peculiar dialect, 
is perfectly natural. But how different it is in its 
principles from the dialect of social life ! There is, 
it is true, a language prevalent in fashionable circles, 
which may be traced to a similar origin. It deals 
largely in compliments and flatteries, aims to make 
you think well of yourself by assuring you of the 
esteem your shining virtues have awakened in the 
bosoms of others, and abounds in generous promises 
and proffers of service. But no one is so simple as 
to interpret it literally. It is well understood that 
these fine phrases mean no more than is conveyed by 
the expressions of courtesy, in the winding up of a 
letter. Aside, however, from the mere complimentary 
intercourse of society, we are accustomed to take 
people at their word. We confide in one another’s 
veracity and candour as a matter of course. For 


THE DIALECT OF SHOPPING. 


59 


mutual confidence is no less the cement which holds 
society together, than the bond of friendship. But 
how is it when you enter the arena of business ? 
Will the same dictionary answer, or is it like going 
from London into Yorkshire ? Does the endless Small¬ 
talk of “ shopping” keep within the broad domain of 
truth, or has it the equivocal reputation of a border- 
tenantry, who do not scruple, as occasion serves, to 
make forays into the adjacent territory ? That there 
are in our own city and elsewhere many retail stores 
where you may rely upon every word spoken, as safely 
as you can upon the conversation in your own par¬ 
lour, is most certain. But, allowing for all just 
exceptions, is there not, the world over, a facility 
ai?d a latitude of expression indulged in the matter 
of buying and selling, which requires every one to be 
on his guard against deception ? In some countries 
this is carried to a provoking extent. You do not 
expect an Italian shopkeeper to tell you the truth. 
The received code, in that country, sanctions the 
most wholesale lying; and no man forfeits the esteem 
of his fellows for using truth or falsehood indifferently, 
on Machiavelli’s plan, according as the one or the 
other will best serve his turn. And there are lands 
this side of Italy where a person may spend a day in 
shopping, and on sitting down to review its incidents 
at evening, feel a considerable degree of uncertainty 


60 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

as to whether every fluent and graceful utterance 
heard across the counter, was framed with legal pre¬ 
cision, and whether every purchase is exactly what 
it was taken to he. If you were simply thrown upon 
your own resources, and left to judge of tjie quality 
of goods for yourself, there might, as to many articles, 
be little reason to complain on finding that you had 
made a poor bargain. But it is the ready endorse¬ 
ment of the goods as reaching a certain standard, 
and the concealment of defects which must elude the 
sagacity of the purchaser, that impress so disagree¬ 
able a character upon this minor trafficking. Let an 
example illustrate this, and, with it, the factitious rule 
of morals on which we are commenting: — 

A gentleman from the country placed his son with 
a merchant in our sister-metropolis. A lady came 
one day to the store, and having agreed with the 
young man for a silk dress, he was about cutting it 
off when he discovered a flaw in the silk. “ Madam,” 
said he, pointing to the place, “ I deem it my duty 
to tell you there is a fracture in this silk.” She 
declined taking it. His employer, having overheard 
what passed, immediately wrote to the young man’s 
father, to come and take him home, as “ he would 
never make a merchant.” Hastening to the city, he 
called at the store, and begged to be informed of his 
son’s delinquencies. “ Why will he not make a 


TOO HONEST FOR A MERCHANT. 


61 


merchant?” “Because he has no tact,” was the 
reply. “ Only a day or two ago, he told a lady 
voluntarily ,. who was buying silk of him, that the 
goods were damaged; and I lost the bargain. Pur¬ 
chasers must look out for themselves. If they cannot 
discover flaws, it would be foolish in me to point 
them out.” “And is that all his fault ?” “Yes.” 
“ Then,” said the father, with a glow of parental 
pride, “I love my son better than ever; and I would 
not have him another day in your store for the 
world.” 

Now, I shall not stop here to define the limitations 
of the principle which requires a man to specify to a 
buyer the defects in his goods, nor to enlarge on the 
idea that room must be left, in the prosecution of 
commerce, for the exercise of skill and sagacity. 
The case just stated is clearly one where the clerk 
was right and the principal wrong. And yet the 
merchant himself had been trained to think other¬ 
wise. The “custom of trade” had, with him, sup¬ 
planted the Scriptures. ITe could set his foot upon 
the morality of the Bible without compunction; and, 
what is still more to the purpose, without the slightest 
prejudice to his mercantile standing. There would 
be nothing in this transaction repeated from day to 
day, as it is daily repeated in thousands of stores, to 
damage him as an honourable and upright man. He 
6 


62 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

has kept within the sweep of that conventional virtue 
which presides in the thoroughfares of commerce, and 
his integrity is not to be gainsayed. — Have we not 
here a proof that there is a morality of trade, which 
differs essentially from the morality of the Bible ? 

And on what principle, but the “ custom of trade,” 
can we explain the use of fictitious labels, and, in 
general, the habit of selling things for what they are 
not ? I have no wish to explore the workshops and 
laboratories of commerce. I lay claim to no special 
familiarity with the mysteries of trade. But if mer¬ 
chants themselves are to be believed, there are inex¬ 
haustible quantities of ^European goods manufactured 
in this country. It is deemed no ground of reproach 
to a manufacturer to furnish such goods, nor to mer¬ 
chants to deal in them. If a customer prefers French 
broadcloths to American, what harm is there in calling 
your cloths French, especially if you know them to 
be a good article ? If he wants wines in the original 
casks, why should you hint to him your suspicions 
that the casks are more genuine than the liquor? 
If he wants some patent drug from Boston, why 
should you not supply him with a better article from 
nearer home, with all the requisite vouchers and cer¬ 
tificates under the proper New England imprint ? 

You must know better than I do, whether practices 
like these are passively acquiesced in by the mercan- 


SPURIOUS ETHICS. 


63 


tile body. Appearances warrant the conviction 
that they are; that while there are many houses 
which have no fellowship with them, the public senti¬ 
ment of the profession extenuates and shelters them; 
and that the numerous respectable firms which give 
them their immediate and efficient sanction, do it 
without feeling that they are traversing any rule of 
morality. Assuming, then, what may safely be 
assumed in this place — what, indeed, it would be 
very ominous not to be able to assume — that all 
usages of this description are in contravention of the 
law of God, we are furnished with another decisive 
proof of the repugnance between this law and the 
“ custom of trade/’ another illustration of the lengths 
to which commerce has gone in substituting its own 
theories of virtue for the only legitimate standard. 

There may be those who will deem it a very super¬ 
fluous and a very puritanical procedure to undertake 
to set up the Bible as the grand regulator of com¬ 
merce. But how is commerce to be exempted from 
its jurisdiction? Who is empowered to say, “We 
will have the Bible in our houses, our schools, our 
churches, our charities, but it shall not come into our 
stores. We are quite willing to live by it, and to die 
by it, and to go to heaven by it, but as to trafficking 
by it, that is out of the question.” It may well 
happen that to subject the entire business-world to 


64 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

this regimen, to replace prescription, usage, expe¬ 
diency, and every spurious rule, with the precepts of 
Scripture, would lead to inconveniences and losses. 
It might require some persons to abandon the busi¬ 
ness they are engaged in, and abridge the profits of 
others. But what alternative is there ? “ I had 

rather be right,” said one of our great statesmen a 
few years since, and the remark is quoted oftener 
than anything he ever said — “ I had rather be 
right, than be President.” You all applaud the 
sentiment. You honour the memory of Henry Clay, 
because he uttered it. We do but apply it to your 
own profession, when we insist upon your enthroning 
the Bible in your Counting-Houses. We press 
it upon you as the one controlling, unalterable, indis¬ 
pensable, rule of life, that you do right. It may 
demand sacrifices; it may cost you many a trial of 
feeling; it may separate you from friends; it may 
expose you to reproach. These are serious evils. 
They are to be shunned, if they can be, with a good 
conscience. But if you have to choose between them 
and a good conscience, you cannot be at a loss 
where truth and duty lie. It is not necessary that 
you should escape trouble, but it is necessary that 
you should do right. 

This may seem to imply a doubt as to the profit¬ 
ableness of high-toned integrity. It is put in this 


PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. 


65 


lorm only to give the statement the greater strength. 
A host of merchants could be cited to show from their 
own books that honesty is, in the long run, the best 
policy, and that godliness hath the promise of the 
life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. 
But waiving this, the question of right must always 
take precedence of the question of interest: and the 
Bible is, therefore, just as much entitled to be heard 
in the Exchange as in the Sanctuary, in the manu¬ 
factory and the warehouse as in the nursery and the 
library. 

It may well impress this conviction upon your 
minds, and abate any disposition you may have felt 
to make expediency or the custom of trade your rule 
of conduct, to reflect that neither these nor any other 
earth-born codes will be recognised in the final judg¬ 
ment. It may serve the purpose of men to mix 
themselves up in the crowd here, and to merge their 
individuality in professions and corporations. But 
there will be no professions and corporations at the 
bar of Christ. These alliances will be dissolved. 
The parties that constitute them will be arraigned 
singly and individually. The criminality of those 
numerous transactions which even “men of character” 
so frequently sanction in their corporate or collective 
capacity, while as private persons they would scorn 
them, will then be traced to its sources, and charged 
6 * 


66 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

upon their active originators and their passive abet¬ 
tors, according to a just rule. No one before that 
tribunal will be so foolish as to imagine that he can 
transfer his own responsibility to his neighbours, or 
vindicate his delinquencies by pleading general con¬ 
nivance and example. To his own Master, he must 
stand or fall. And the law of God is the inflexible 
rule by which he must be judged. 

The sooner, therefore, we get rid of all hallucina¬ 
tion on this subject, and admit into our hearts the 
full, strong, abiding sense of our personal accounta¬ 
bility, the better for our business and the better for 
our souls. Be.cause the world is full of people who 
are selling their souls for a mess of pottage, that is 
no reason why we should do it. They are no law to 
us, as they certainly will be able to extend us no 
relief, if we find ourselves ruined by following their 
example. The chart prescribed to us is not, it is 
true, a scheme of salvation, in the sense of making 
our own obedience the meritorious ground of our 
acceptance with God. That way to heaven was for 
ever barred up when our first parents were driven 
out of Paradise. If saved at all, we must be saved 
through the atonement of Christ. But an upright 
and useful life, a life conformed in its aims and 
motives and habitual endeavours, to the Divine law, 
is no less indispensable, as a part of our personal 


A PERFECT CODE. 


67 


meetness for heaven, than is genuine faith as the 
bond of our union with the Redeemer. God has 
joined faith and works together, and we put them 
asunder at our peril. Nor will any other scheme of 
morals besides this, meet the exigencies of the com¬ 
mercial body. Whatever name they may bear, all 
other codes are radically deficient in precision, in 
comprehension, and in authority. They have no 
solid basis, no uniformity, no adequate sanctions. 
They tolerate in one place what they prohibit in 
another. What they concede to-day they withdraw 
to-morrow. By sending every man to his own 
interest, or to the custom of his neighbours, for his 
, rule of conduct, they sap the foundations of integrity, 
and make the morals of commerce as variable and 
capricious as the weaves which float its ships. 

In majestic contrast with these fluctuating and 
arbitrary codes, the morality of the Bible asserts its 
sovereignty, and challenges the homage of the world. 
Emanating from the throne of the Deity, and radiant 
with supernal splendours, it demands the obedience 
of every human being, in every act and moment of 
his life. It waits upon us with the first dawn of 
moral agency, and cleaves to the disembodied spirit 
as it wings its way up to the throne of God and 
onward into the unknown depths of eternity. En¬ 
dowed with the ubiquity of its Author, if we ascend 


68 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

up into heaven, it is there; if we make our bed in 
hell, behold it is there; if we take the wings of the 
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
even there will it lay its immutable behests upon us, 
and sit in judgment on our most unguarded actions 
and our most subtle thoughts. There is no spot in 
the universe, where we can elude its jurisdiction: no 
finite arm, which can shelter from its anathema the 
man who fails in the least jot or tittle of its require¬ 
ments. But there is a spot where we can learn to 
love this sublime and holy law, even while it condemns 
us; and a Power which can absolve us from its curse 
and enfranchise us with its rewards, without abetting 
disloyalty or encouraging ingratitude. That spot is • 
Calvary. That Power is the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who “so loved the world that he 
gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 
The blood of the cross is the only safe-guard against 
the penalty of the law. And it is the mysterious 
property of that blood, when sprinkled upon the 
heart, not only to avert from it the descending bolt 
of Divine justice, but to inspire it with the same 
affectionate veneration for the holiness, which it has 
for the mercy of God. This truth, which we are 
all so slow to understand, it is the gracious office of 
the Spirit to impress upon the conscience. Under 


NEED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


69 


His administration, we gratefully receive the Gospel 
as our ground of hope, and the law as our rule of 
duty. Let it be your care to invoke, with earnestness 
and importunity, that help which He alone can afford 
you. Transformed by Him into the Divine image, 
you will view even your secular employments in their 
higher relations, and endeavour to conduct them on 
Christian principles. It will be no irksome task to 
set up the Bible in your Counting-Houses, when the 
God of the Bible is once admitted to his rightful 
place in your hearts. 


70 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-nOUSE. 




3 - 




THE TRUE MERCANTILE CHARACTER. 

As I was about writing the closing paragraphs of 
my last Lecture, I received a letter from a gentleman 
of the highest social and commercial standing in one 
of our principal cities, which contained the following 
paragraph: — 

“ It gives me pain to inform you that our friend, Mr.-, 

is in a very critical state of health: he is confined to his 
house, and forbidden even to see his intimate friends. No 
man could "be taken from this community, whose loss would 
be more severely felt: for everywhere his influence has been 
exerted for good. Such a liberal outlay of money, combined 
with unwearied personal exertions, in the cause of benevo¬ 
lence, we have never seen here —the whole directed by intel¬ 
ligence and sound judgment. In the mercantile community, 
he stands without a peer, while he is the delight of the social 
circle, in which, however, he mingles with great moderation. 
Added to all, he is a conscientious Christian. lie observed 
to a friend of ours, a few days since, that he regarded his 
present illness as a blessing that had been sent to snatch him 


A MODEL MERCHANT. 


71 


from the whirlwind of a life he was leading, and afford him 
the opportunity of paying some attention to his more import¬ 
ant interests.” 

Sad as this intelligence was, I felt that there was 
a providence in its reaching me at the moment when 
I was casting about for some method of bringing 
before you a suitable exemplar of the true mercan¬ 
tile character. The gentleman referred to in this 
extract, is at the head of a house which is known 
in every leading port of the globe. No wind can 
blow which will not waft one of their ships homeward. 
Their counting-rooms have more the aspect of a great 
banking establishment than a mercantile house. The 
administrative capacity requisite to conduct their 
affairs, would be more than sufficient to endow the 
entire cabinet of many a European principality. 
But the business is in the hands of one "who is quite 
equal to the position. Possessing already and saga¬ 
cious mind, stored with ample professional knowledge 
and embellished with general reading, energetic, pru¬ 
dent, systematic, conscious of his own resources, and 
thoroughly conversant with every department of their 
operations, his whole character reposes on a basis of 
inflexible integrity, is pervaded with a spirit of 
enlightened piety, and garnished with a serene and 
cheerful temper, which sparkles like a fountain in the 
sunshine. Enter his private office when you may, bo 


72 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

it “ Steamer-day,” “ Packet-day,” or any other “ day,” 
be it when he is surrounded by the captains and super¬ 
cargoes of their fleet, or absorbed with negotiations 
involving a half-million of money, you are certain to 
be met with a manly smile. Despatch, you will find, 
and promptitude: but no flurry, no imperiousness, 
no gruffness. Refinement and courtesy preside there 
as visibly as in his private mansion. And if your 
errand be one of philanthropy, you are quite as sure 
of a cordial greeting as though you called to charter 
a ship for Canton or to buy a thousand bales of cot¬ 
ton. Indeed, it is one of the singular excellencies of 
this accomplished merchant, that while conducting an 
extended commerce with every part of the globe, he 
is known as one of the most efficient managers in 
various charitable institutions, and devotes a large 
amount of time to personal exertions for the relief of 
the suffering po.or. 

Having hung up this portrait, crudely sketched as 
it is, where we can all see it, we are prepared to say 
that the true mercantile character comprises, as one 
of its essential elements, a comprehensive and liberal 
conception of the dignity and utility of commercial 
pursuits. 

Boswell relates that he one day asked Dr. Johnson, 
“ What is thb reason that we a,re angry at a trader’s 
having opulence?” “Why, sir,” he replied, “the 


DR. JOHNSON. 


78 


reason is (though I don’t undertake to prove that 
there is a reason), we see no qualities in trade that 
should entitle a man to superiority. We are not 
angry at a soldier’s getting riches, because we see 
that he possesses qualities which we have not. If a 
man returns from a battle, having lost one hand, and 
with the other full of gold, we feel that he deserves 
the gold; but we cannot think that a fellow by sitting 
all day at a desk, is entitled to get above us.” 
Boswell. “ But, sir, may we not suppose a merchant 
to be a man of an enlarged mind, such as Addison 
in the Spectator describes Sir Andrew Freeport to 
have been?” Johnson. “Why, sir, we may sup¬ 
pose any fictitious character. We may suppose a 
philosophical day-labourer, who is happy in reflecting 
that by his labour he contributes to the fertility of the 
earth, and to the support of his fellow-creatures; but 
we find no such philosophical day-labourer. A mer¬ 
chant may, perhaps, be a man of an enlarged mind; 
but there is nothing in trade connected with an 
enlarged mind.” 

This is a very characteristic growl; but even John¬ 
son would hardly have emitted it, had he lived a half 
century later. Commerce has fought its way (if this 
phrase may be used of a pursuit which is proverbially 
the patron of peace) to a position in which it can 
afford to treat cynical sneers, from whatever quarter, 

7 


74 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


with contempt. And yet, with all the opulence and 
power it has attained, there is still but too much 
occasion given for strictures like those we have quoted. 
Crowded to repletion as the mercantile profession is 
in this and some other countries, it is not surprising 
that there should be found in its ranks a large com¬ 
mixture of the precious and the vile. No inconsider¬ 
able portion of the traffickers of our land have gone 
into business, without the slightest preparation. The 
high reputation of the merchants of Great Britain 
throughout the globe, is to be ascribed in a great 
measure to the thorough training involved in their 
novitiate. The long and rigorous apprenticeship to 
which they are subjected corrects their extravagances, 
disciplines their powers, and forms them to habits of 
caution and to principles of integrity, before they 
have a counting-room of their own. And then, the 
whole spirit of their institutions, not to say the very 
genius of the nation, coalescing with this system of 
tutelage, goes to foster the various practical virtues 
for which the commercial body in England is so 
honourably distinguished. 

This wise and salutary process is as much in con¬ 
flict with the genius of our people, as it is in harmony 
with that of our respected relatives across the water. 
While the substance of it is retained by our leading 
commercial houses, it is quite too tedious to suit the 


ADVENTURERS. 


75 


temper of the trading classes generally. They can¬ 
not brook its restraints. Preparation for business, is 
not what our young men want: they must have busi¬ 
ness itself. Why waste their time in learning in the 
abstract, w T hat they could so much sooner and better 
learn from actual practice ? While they are getting 
ready to do something, they might be making a for¬ 
tune. Plodding and moiling may do “in an old 
countrythe only motto which befits an American, 
is, “ Gro ahead ! ” 

Such is the feeling which hurries multitudes into 
the various branches of trade, or starts them on bold 
and hazardous speculations. To say that their theory 
of mercantile life is a very erroneous one, would be 
doing them too much honour. You might as well 
talk of the geological theory of the China-man who 
is flourishing his pick in a California ravine. The 
only “theory” they have, is, that they want a for¬ 
tune, and that “ merchandizing ” is the way to get it. 
What they mean by “merchandizing” is not particu¬ 
larly clear to their own minds; but they have a vague 
notion that the whole scheme of trade is a sort of 
scramble, where every man is to clutch all he can, 
regardless of the rights and interests of other people. 
Taking their departure from this point, one of two 
results is apt to follow: they are either “lucky” 
enough (Luck and Mammon are the only gods in 


76 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

tlieir mythology) to capture some rich prizes, or, 
missing their reckoning, they run upon the rocks and 
founder—if, indeed, that can be called “ foundering,” 
which admits of a speedy refitting, and a fresh start, 
as often as the disaster occurs. 

It would be a mistake, however, to attribute this 
view of mercantile pursuits to those only who embark 
in trade without any experience. It unhappily enters 
into the creed of too many persons who have served 
at least a partial apprenticeship, and acquired con¬ 
siderable tact in the management of business. Pro¬ 
ceeding on the maxim that “each man must take 
care of himself,” they see nothing, and care for 
nothing, beyond their own immediate interest. They 
want customers: why should they not decoy into 
their warehouse, men who have for years been deal¬ 
ing with their neighbours? Their neighbours can 
do the same, if they choose, with other people’s cus¬ 
tomers. They have goods to sell: why should they 
expose their defects to buyers, when every buyer is 
presumed to be able to judge for himself? They 
have goods to purchase: why should they not avail 
themselves of the known or suspected embarrassments 
of the seller, to force him to part with his commodi¬ 
ties below the market price ? They have a bill of 
merchandize to pay: why should they use good money 
when they can, with a little legerdemain, induce their 



SORDID VIEWS. 


77 


correspondent to take “ country paper” or depreci¬ 
ated bank-notes ? They require a book-keeper, and 
one offers whose qualifications are of the highest 
grade; but his family are in distress, and they know 
he will sooner take a meagre compensation than miss 
the place: why should they tender him the usual 
salary ? — These hints will suffice to identify the class 
of dealers I have in view, and who are cited here for 
a single object. I would have you note the low, 
sordid, pitiful conception which these men must have 
of a mercantile life. They may, if you will, be rich 
men, successful men, men who have a potential influ¬ 
ence in bank-parlours, and who are treated with great 
outward respect on ’Change. But if your profession 
were made up of such men, it would concentrate 
within itself more meanness than could now be sifted 
out of all the other trades and callings put together. 

Commerce, as it lies before the mind of a true 
merchant — like him described in the opening of this 
Lecture, and lie others we could all name, if re¬ 
quired— has no affinity with these base principles. 
They see in it a system of interchanges founded on 
the organic structure of the globe, and mercifully 
designed by the Author of our being, to subserve the 
most salutary ends in our physical and moral train¬ 
ing. Not, indeed, that they discard the ideas of 
profit and accumulation, or disparage prudence and 

7 * 


78 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

energy in the buying and selling of goods, and in 
every other department of business; or deem it ami¬ 
able and exemplary to let themselves be imposed upon 
by unprincipled rivals or adventurers. There are 
very few such transcendentalists in the walks of 
traffic. But they are men who believe in the homely 
maxim, “Live, and let live.” Instead of grasp¬ 
ing at every thing within their reach, on the merce¬ 
nary principle that “ to the victor belong the spoils 
of the vanquished,” they would not that there should 
be any “vanquished,” but that all should receive a 
fair remuneration for their skill, their risks, their 
enterprise, or whatever they may have brought into 
the teeming arena of traffic. They welcome the pro¬ 
pitious venture which fills their own lap with ingots ; 
but they also rejoice in the prosperity which reaches 
their neighbours, and spreads over the whole com¬ 
munity the ensigns of thrift and happiness. Aiming, 
as they are, to make a fortune, they are far from dwarf¬ 
ing a commercial life into this as its only or its highest 
function. They see it also in its nobler aspects, as 
looking to the well-being of individuals, the improve¬ 
ment of States, and the diffusion of Christianity. It 
supplies, in their view, one of the best of all schools 
for the culture of integrity, candour, moderation, 
decision, generosity, and other elevated qualities. 
These qualities are not the growth of a day. Luther 


THE MORAL DISCIPLINE OF TRADE. 


T9 


specified temptation as one of the three things requi¬ 
site to make a minister. It is equally indispensable 
to make a merchant; and a business-life involves a 
perpetual trial of one’s principles. It furnishes inces¬ 
sant openings for the suggestions of avarice, false¬ 
hood, extortion, and jealousy. It daily invites to 
indolence or to rashness. And no man can, year 
after year, repel the Protean-like enticements to 
wrong-doing, which lurk along the avenues of trade 
and make their way into every counting-room and 
insinuate themselves into every business-transaction, 
without becoming both a wiser and a better man. 
His virtue will grow apace. His probity will strike 
its roots deeper and deeper into the foundations of 
his character. And he will be garnering up strength 
to resist future assaults of a similar kind. 

The very errors and reverses of commerce conduce 
to the same end. One of the proper fruits of indis¬ 
cretion and disaster, is, to make men prudent. A 
little experience of the fluctuations of mercantile 
affairs, may teach an impetuous temper the value of 
that wholesome maxim, “ Hasten slowly.” A careful 
observation of the causes which have produced the 
downfall of others, may prompt to a cautious and 
moderate policy. The disappointments to which even 
the most sagacious are liable, are adapted to impress 
the mind with a becoming sense of God’s universal 


80 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


Providence and our absolute dependence upon Him 
for success in every undertaking. In fine, even the 
ordinary events of a commercial life are fraught with 
moral lessons, no less instructive than those our 
Saviour has taught us to gather from the fowls of the 
air and the lilies of the field. 

Looking at the subject in another of its aspects, 
whatever promotes the physical or the moral well¬ 
being of individuals, is a substantial benefit to 
society: so that the salutary discipline just described, 
to which so many characters are constantly subjected, 
is enlarging the moral wealth of a country, as really 
as the processes of trade are contributing to its ma¬ 
terial resources. If commerce multiplies our wants, 
it augments both our capacity and our opportunity 
for useful labour. It encourages industry, stimulates 
skill, rewards enterprise, diffuses knowledge, and 
developes those capabilities of exertion which slumber 
in the bosom of every community. 

There is a still higher view than this —that which 
affiliates a commercial fife with the welfare of Chris¬ 
tianity. This connection may be seen in that process 
of self-discipline , already adverted to, which is going 
forward in the shop of many an humble tradesman. 
In the tedious toil with which he enlarges his scanty 
stock of goods, in the vigilance with which he watches 
for opportunities of traffic, in the firmness with which 


COMMERCE AND CHRISTIANITY. 


81 


he repels the suggestions of fraud and covetousness, 
in the patience with which he submits to his priva¬ 
tions, in the alternate hopes and fears, the mingled 
cheerfulness and anxiety, which fill up his days and 
too often his watchful nights, there is a gradual 
maturing of his character in integrity, self-command, 
contentment, and trust in Providence. And when 
we consider upon what masses of population, distri¬ 
buted among the various grades of mercantile life, 
this training is brought to bear, it can excite no sur¬ 
prise that we find numerous examples of a perennial 
and robust Christianity along the thoroughfares of 
trade. 

On a broader scale, commerce proves itself the 
friend and ally of true religion, by supplying means 
and opening channels for its diffusion. To this result, 
indeed, it unconsciously contributes, even while con¬ 
templating only pecuniary gains. This was once 
beautifully expressed by a late illustrious advocate 
and statesman, who was justly esteemed as one of 
the chief ornaments of our city, and whose death has 
been felt as a national bereavement :*—“ The ship 
which, in quest of profitable traffic, seeks out the 
abode of barbarian ignorance, covered with the thick 
darkness of inhuman superstition, is like the first ray 


The Hon. John Sergeant. 



82 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


of the morning upon creation. Feeble it may be, 
and insufficient of itself, but it is the earnest of 
approaching day, growing and growing, until at 
length the message of piety is borne by the winds in 
the same ship upon the unfurrowed bosom of the 
ocean, and the Missionary of the Gospel comes to 
plant the Tree of Life in the wilderness, humbly 
trusting to his Almighty Master to give the increase.” 
In this way, it may be added, Commerce has conveyed 
the Book of Life to many a pagan land, the harbinger 
of peace and freedom to the benighted nations, the 
emblem of approaching amity among all the tribes 
of earth. 

These are topics which can only be glanced at here. 
They open to the eye a very inviting field, but we 
cannot enter it. The end I have in view is simply 
to illustrate by these hints, the elevated and generous 
conception of a commercial life, entertained by a true 
merchant, as distinguished from the narrow and 
debasing notions of the mere adventurer. It is satis¬ 
factory to know that in all our great centres of busi¬ 
ness, there are influential men who have formed this 
liberal estimate of their profession, and who habitually 
contemplate it in its powerful and beneficent bearings 
upon the best interests of individuals, and the im¬ 
provement of nations in intelligence, virtue, and 
rational happiness. It will commonly be found that 


THE THREE MERCANTILE VIRTUES. 


83 


merchants of this stamp, are no strangers to the 
Bible. It is from the study of the sacred records, 
that they have come to regard business, not as a 
mere matter of personal subsistence or of political 
economy, but as an essential part of that great scheme 
of Providence by which men are to be trained to the 
practice of virtue, and the remotest nations drawn to 
each other in the bonds of a common brotherhood. 

With these views of a commercial life, there are 
associated certain virtues which may be regarded as 
indispensable to the true mercantile character. On 
this point, an eminent authority* has said: “Ana¬ 
lyze the true qualities of a man of business, and you 
will find them reduce themselves to fairness, vigilance, 
and steadiness: fairness, exemplified in declaring his 
terms at once, and in never deviating from an engage¬ 
ment ; vigilance, in superintending his assistants, his 
clerks, and his workmen; and steadiness, in following 
up his proper line, year after year, without turning 
to the right or left in pursuit of mere speculative 
advantages. These, plain as they are, form the true 
virtues of mercantile life: the man who is known to 
possess them will be at no loss for connections, and 
may safely leave to others the task of seeking a 
reputation for hospitality by their mode of living, of 


The Encyc. Brit. 




84 


THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


activity by the frequency of their solicitations, or of 
liberality by an unusual prolongation of credit.” 

No one could be disposed to abridge this catalogue 
of the radical mercantile virtues: many would enlarge 
it. But all parties would unite in assigning the first 
place to what this writer terms “ fairness,” meaning, 
no doubt, Integrity. It is proper here to be more 
specific. There are higher and lower grades of this 
as of the other virtues. The integrity which belongs 
to the best type of mercantile character, is evangelical 
integrity; that which is based upon an intelligent and 
hearty reception of Scripture truth, nurtured by Di¬ 
vine influences, and swayed by motives drawn from 
revealed religion. I utter not one word in disparage¬ 
ment of the honesty which is so often found apart 
from personal godliness. It is well for the world 
that men are honest from interest, from habit, from 
general custom, from a sense of future accountability, 
from what is called “goodness of heart,” and from 
various other motives. But it will not be denied that 
the integrity which springs from religious principle, 
is in all respects a nobler and a more reliable virtue, 
and that this constitutes, in fact, the only adequate 
panoply for a man who means to expose himself to 
the perils and hazards of a commercial life. 

The integrity of a merchant, to be of any avail, 
must have some well-known, immutable, and readily 


DOING RIGHT. 


85 


accessible standard. Christian integrity has such a 
standard, clear, precise, authoritative, and always at 
hand — the Word of God. His integrity must be, 
not a matter of calculation, of constraint, of appear¬ 
ances, but a matter of principle and of disposition. 
He must be resolved to do right; and he must find 
his happiness in doing right. He must do right as 
well in the smallest matters as in the greatest. He 
must do right where there is a moral certainty that 
by some slight deviation from the line of rectitude, 
he could add to his immediate gains without the least 
hazard of detection. He must do right when pressed 
on every side by an eager competition, and when a 
refusal to conform to the equivocal expedients which 
his neighbours employ to increase their business, 
promises to involve him in losses. He must do right 
in those junctures when he is tempted by an inviting 
combination of circumstances, to embark in schemes 
which neither the amount of his capital nor his exist¬ 
ing financial obligations would warrant him to meddle 
with. He must do right in those fearful crises when 
the omens of ruin are gathering thick and fast around 
him, and his breast is haunted day and night with the 
horrible spectre of bankruptcy. This is the integrity 
you need. And if there be any virtue which is equal 
to these requisitions, it can be no earth-born endow¬ 
ment. It would be going quite too far to say that 
8 


86 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

even men of undoubted Christian integrity never fail 
in these scenes of peril. They have often fallen; 
and truth and righteousness have fallen with them. 
But Christian integrity is, under God, the best pos¬ 
sible protection you can have against these insidious 
and serried dangers. No other equipment could do 
so much to shield you. If you are without it, you 
cannot escape the moral contamination so incident to 
a business-life. You certainly will not attain to the 
dignity and purity of the true mercantile character. 

We must go further still. There is a style of 
excellence in the world of commerce, beyond that we 
have described. The merchant referred to in the 
opening of this Lecture, is a man of scrupulous 
integrity; but if this were all, he would not fill the 
place he does now in the affectionate regards of that 
community. I have known men — you must have 
known men — whose rectitude was without a stain; 
men rigidly punctual and exact in all their transac¬ 
tions ; whom you would not have hesitated to entrust 
with all your property or to name as your executors: 
and yet men in whom there was a something wanting 
to awaken in the breast emotions of reverence and 
affection. The truth is, a man may do right , and 
yet come far short of his duty. We are not satisfied, 
and the Bible is not satisfied, with a man’s “ doing 
justly/’ He may “ do justly,” according to the letter 


LOVING MERCY. 


87 


of the law, and yet do some very unamiable things. 
He may abstain from the slightest invasion of the 
rights of others, and “render to all their dues,” and 
still leave undone many offices of kindness which it 
was in his power, and he should have felt it to be his 
pleasure, to do. The true merchant will not only 
“ do justly,” but “love mercy.” The realm he lives 
in is one where Mercy has the amplest opportunities 
to exert her mild prerogative. Such are its uncer¬ 
tainties, its fluctuations, its hidden dangers, its fre¬ 
quent disasters, that its busy tenantry are all liable 
to need, and should therefore all be ready to perform, 
offices of sympathy and kindness. It will not answer 
for one of them to go to his fellows indiscriminately, 
and take them by the throat and say, “ Pay me what 
thou owest!” There may be those among them who 
richly deserve this treatment. But for the mass, he 
must remember who has said, “ He shall have judg¬ 
ment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy.” He 
must consider — and if he is what a merchant should 
be, he will consider—that he may perpetrate grievous 
wrongs in the name of law and justice. He will 
never strike until he has heard. He will reflect, that 
the being who stands before him, deprecating his 
severity, is not simply his debtor, but his fellow- 
creature, his brother; that his inability to meet his 
engagements may be the effect of unavoidable mis- 


88 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

fortunes; and that even if they are attributable to 
rashness or improvidence, it does not become Mm to 
visit these infirmities with a too rigorous retribution 
— “ considering himself, lest he also be tempted.”— 
Nor is it in this way only that his kindness of heart 
will show itself. A merely just man may isolate 
himself from the community around him. lie is 
among them, but he is not of them. lie buys and 
sells with them, pays them their dues and requires 
them to pay his; and this is all. He is not an 
excrescence. He is not an incumbrance. His capital 
is an advantage to the common traffic. His example 
is useful in so far forth as he is an upright man. 
But he is bound to the community by no ties of sym¬ 
pathy. He takes no interest in anything outside of 
his own warehouse. He is not the man, if he hears 
of a worthy neighbour who has been overtaken by 
some sudden emergency, to go to him and say, “Here 
are funds: take them until you have weathered this 
cape!” He is not the man to turn business he does 
not want or cannot do, into the hands of a young 
firm across the way, who, commercially speaking, 
might be glad to get the crumbs from his table. 
If men want counsel, his counting-room is not the 
one where they will instinctively go to seek it. Every 
one confides in his fairness, and respects him for his 
skill and capacity; but the general feeling about him 


MEN IN MAIL. 


89 


will be, that he is a. cold man; that without being a 
miser, he is still a selfish man, who has no generous 
impulses; and that to ask a favour of him is too dis¬ 
agreeable a service to be undertaken, except under a 
stringent necessity.— This is not a type of character 
peculiar to mercantile life. Men of this description 
are to be found in the learned professions and among 
civilians. Great men they may be, erudite scholars, 
eloquent, judicious, influential, and quite accessible 
where they are consulted officially; but in their ordi¬ 
nary bearing, wrapped in a cloak of dignified selfish¬ 
ness, which makes you feel that their proper place 
would be in the Armory of the Tower of London, or 
with some other collection of mailed heroes of the 
Middle Ages. 

The true merchant is cast in a very different mould. 
Ills bosom is the home no less of genuine sensibility 
than of inflexible justice. He understands that his 
relations to his fellow-men are not all summed up in 
buying and selling with them. He remembers that 
life has other and higher ends than the mere exchanges 
of commerce and the profits which accrue from them. 
He esteems it as his privilege to do good according 
as God may have given him the ability. He will be 
found among the supporters of those noble religious 
institutions which constitute the brightest ornaments 
8 * 


90 


THE BIBLE IX THE COUNTIXG-IIOUSE. 


of our age, and arc doing more for tlic amelioration 
of the race than all other agencies combined. But 
his benevolence will not begin and end in the sanc¬ 
tuary. It will be his pleasure to help forward every 
prudent scheme, which promises to contribute to the 
general welfare. He will be ready to assist with his 
advice, and as far as circumstances may warrant it, 
with his means, firms of tried character which need 
succour. He will have his eye upon young men of 
real merit, and at the proper time put them in the 
way of doing something for themselves. If a vacancy 
is about to occur in a bank or an insurance office, he 
will have some unfortunate, but deserving and com¬ 
petent, man to nominate for the place. If he sees 
the affairs of some remote firm going to ruin through 
the dissipation or dishonesty of their agent in his own 
city, he will in a delicate way cause a hint of it to 
be given them. If a widowed mother invokes his aid 
in behalf of her sons, he will do what he can to obtain 
situations for them. In a word, a merchant of this 
sort will make it the guiding principle of his life, to 
endeavour to do unto others as he would have others 
do to him; he will cultivate no less in his business, 
than in his social intercourse and his religious duties, 
the spirit of Christian candour and Christian kind¬ 
ness ; and the w T hole texture of his life will go to 
illustrate the benefits which wmuld accrue to Com- 


VIGILANCE. 


91 


merce, if the Bible could once he fairly established 
in all her Counting-Houses. 

Let it not be inferred from these remarks that the 
merchant who draws his ethics from the Scriptures, 
and carries the benevolent spirit of Christianity into 
his business, must expose himself to imposition, or, 
in any event, will be likely to forego frequent advan¬ 
tages of which he might fairly avail himself in prose¬ 
cuting his plans. There is nothing in the Bible to 
discountenance that “ vigilance ” which the writer we 
have quoted, specifies as one of the essential mercan¬ 
tile virtues. Its whole tenor, on the contrary, goes 
to make men earnest, watchful, and sagacious, in their 
secular callings. It were, indeed, an ill omen for Chris¬ 
tianity, if a faithful adherence to its precepts should 
reduce men to a state of amiable imbecility, and make 
them, according to the Italian proverb, “ so good that 
they would be good for nothing.” Religious principle 
is of somewhat sterner stuff* than this. A Christian 
merchant is even under special obligation not to be 
remiss in any appropriate means for promoting his 
business. lie will shrink from no honourable com¬ 
petition. He will put forth all his powers in deciding 
how he may best apply his resources. He will be as 
resolute as his neighbours in getting up new fabrics, 
in cheapening the cost of production, in seeking out 
fresh markets, in calculating the contingencies which 


92 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

may affect prices at future periods or in distant ports, 
and turning these to some useful account, in guarding 
against accidents and losses, in meeting the conve¬ 
nience of his customers, and, generally, in devising 
measures which, without involving unwarrantable risks, 
may enlarge his business and his profits. He will 
resist to the utmost, the schemes and tricks of unprin¬ 
cipled traders, who may essay to make capital out of 
his good nature. He will show himself as resolute 
in bringing knaves and sharpers to justice, as he is 
lenient to those whose only crime consists in their 
having been unfortunate. Nor will his moral courage 
exhaust itself in meting out a righteous retribution to 
piratical adventurers from the interior. If there are 
firms in his own line of business, however wealthy 
and prosperous, which set at defiance the common 
maxims of integrity and the established courtesies of 
commerce, which circulate slanders against their neigh¬ 
bours, inveigle away their customers, and do other 
things which no honourable merchant would do, he 
will, on all fitting occasions, manifest his abhorrence 
of their conduct. He will unite with his brethren in 
suspending all professional intercourse with such firms, 
and treating them as marauders, who have no legiti¬ 
mate place within the domain of commerce. It is 
the opprobrium of the mercantile class that there 
should be men of this description among them. If 


FRAUDULENT ESTABLISHMENTS. 


93 


new men rise up along the street, who simply excel 
them in enterprise and skill, who heat them in energy 
and tact, and through these means outstrip them in 
business, they cannot complain. But there can be 
few things more trying to a mercantile body than to 
have an establishment planted among them which 
thrives at their expense, on principles that ought 
never to he found outside of a Penitentiary. The 
craft with which these concerns are managed, is a 
great aggravation of the evil. Like other free¬ 
booters, they sail under false colours. They bear 
all the outward emblems of respectability and integ¬ 
rity. Here is the warehouse, stocked from basement 
to attic with seasonable goods. The principals and 
clerks are as bland and polite as possible. There are 
porters and draymen and packers and piles of boxes 
and the usual paraphernalia of a driving business. 
But the honeyed words which are spoken there in the 
ears of the country merchant, who has just been 
enticed from the firm he has always traded with, are 
words of falsehood. The sly insinuations he hears 
about “ other houses” are calumnies. The alleged 
superior facilities for making purchases, enjoyed by 
his new friends, are a sheer fabrication. The ex¬ 
tremely liberal terms on which they are willing to 
sell to “a gentleman of his standing,” are a decoy 
for the time being, or, if anything more, will be found 


94 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


no more liberal than he could obtain elsewhere. And 
the voluble commendations lavished upon the goods, 
are reliable just so far as his own experience and tact 
will enable him to verify them, and no further. For 
the whole establishment is a deception and a lie. 
There is no moral principle there, except that shal¬ 
low, thriftless, counterfeit integrity, which is based 
on policy. From the cellar to the dome, truth and 
falsehood are used indifferently. The very invoices 
and labels are taught to lie. Where it will serve a 
purpose, a neighbouring firm is largely complimented; 
and where it will serve a purpose, the same firm is 
prodigally abused. Character has no intrinsic value 
there. Virtue is nothing. Honour is nothing. The 
esteem of the community is nothing. Religion, as a 
system of practical godliness, is less than nothing. 
Money is everything. The one paramount aim of 
the concern, its only code, its only care, is, to make 
money. And if in prosecuting this object, it seem 
expedient to repudiate the recognized comities of 
trade, and to make open or secret w r ar upon other 
houses, why the end will justify the means — for 
money must be made at all hazards ! 

Now it is not only compatible with religious duty, 
but every merchant of true Christian integrity is 
bound to unite with his neighbours in treating estab¬ 
lishments of this sort as beyond the pale of honour- 


RIGHTEOUS SEVERITY. 


95 


able traffic. This is precisely a case for the applica¬ 
tion of the apostolic injunction, “ Have no fellowship 
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather 
reprove them: for it is a shame even to speak of 
those things which are done of them in secret.” 
And this is important, as on other and lower grounds, 
so because it ought to be seen in the realm of trade, 
what the genius of Christianity is. It should be seen 
that the Bible, though the friend of meekness, is not 
the patron of pusillanimity; that in fostering benevo¬ 
lence, it no where inculcates acquiescence in fraud 
and falsehood; and that while it bids us forgive an 
erring brother, on his repenting, to the extent of 
“ seventy times seven,” it requires us to withstand 
and rebuke obdurate offenders, who are trampling 
truth and righteousness under their feet. 

It would exhaust your patience to delineate the 
other mercantile virtues with the same detail. And 
it will be both a more summary and a more satisfac¬ 
tory expedient to lay before you, in concluding this 
Lecture, a sample of the teachings of the Bible on 
this subject. You may judge for yourselves, whether 
Commerce would not be the gainer by having en¬ 
throned in its expanded empire, and over every, even 
the minutest, of its traffickings, an authority which 
abounds in utterances like these: — 


96 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. 

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. 

He that is slothful in his work, is brother to him that is a 
great waster. ^ 

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. 

Be patient toward all men. 

The meek will He guide in judgment. 

Before honour is humility. 

A man’s pride shall bring him low. 

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, 
in weight, or in measure. 

Just balances, just weights, and a just epliah, and a just 
line, shall ye have. 

This is the will of God, that no man go beyond or defraud 
his brother in any matter; because that the Lord is the 
avenger of all such. 

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, shall 
surely come to want. 

He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. 

Trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who 
giveth us richly all things to enjoy. 

He that giveth to the poor shall not lack. 

Say not to thy neighbour, “ Go, and come again,” -when 
thou hast it by thee. 

Putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neigh¬ 
bour. 

A poor man is better than a liar. 

Seest thou a man hasty in his words? there is more hope 
of a fool than of him. 

Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. 

“ It is naught, it is naught,” saith the buyer; but when 
he is gone his way, then he boasteth. 


A SAFE CHART. 


97 


There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there 
is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. 

By humility and the fear of the Lord, are riches and honour 
and life. 

A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometb 
surety in the presence of his friend. 

He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he 
that hateth suretyship is sure. 

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth 
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be 
given him. 

Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, 
meekness. 

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even so to them. 

Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, 
and thou shalt glorify me. 

Let your conversation be without covetousness ; and be 
content with such things as ye have; for He hath said, I 
will never leave thee nor forsake thee. 

Such are the counsels of inspired wisdom; such 
the ethics of the Word of God. It is a safe and 
reliable guide. It meets all the exigencies of your 
profession. It provides for every duty and every 
danger. Its principles are as immutable as the 
throne of the Deity. Its precepts are written as 
with a sunbeam. Its promises breathe the benevo¬ 
lence of heaven. The character which is formed 
upon its model, will command universal homage. 
The life that draws from it its inspiration, will enrich 
9 


98 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

and bless the community which embosoms it. Let 
Commerce take the Bible' as its chart, and through¬ 
out all its teeming thoroughfares, the primeval curse 
of labour will be despoiled of half its severity. 
Enthrone the Bible in your Counting-Houses, 
and the God of the Bible will bless you and make 
you a blessing. 


HASTING TO BE RICH. 


99 


* 

Inture /uurtjr. 

HASTING TO BE RICH. 


Some few years since an ingenious manufacturer 
of porcelain, in Persia, acquired a celebrity which 
reached the court, and brought him a message from 
the Shah, that he might make china for the royal 
household. Under any constitutional or just govern¬ 
ment, such an intimation would have been a fortune 
to a man. But what did the artisan do ? Mustering 
all the money he could, he took it to the prime 
minister, and bribed him to report to the king, that 
he was not the person who made the china, and 
that the real workman had run away, nobody knew 
whither. The ruse succeeded. The man was dis¬ 
charged, and vowed that he would never make a bit 
of china, nor attempt any other improvement, as 
long as he lived. 

How is this conduct to be explained ? The govern¬ 
ment of Persia is a pure autocracy, and the kings are 


100 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


for the most part insatiate tyrants. They have the 
absolute control of life, liberty, and property, through¬ 
out the empire. They can degrade, and even decapi¬ 
tate, the highest nobles, at pleasure. They can seize 
and confiscate any estate. For a mechanic to display 
any remarkable ingenuity, is only to expose himself 
to be coerced into the service of the crown without 
compensation. For a merchant to accumulate pro¬ 
perty, is to invite the most merciless exactions from 
the myrmidons of the throne. The mechanic just 
mentioned, knew that he would be compelled to spend 
the rest of his life in working for the king and his 
court, without requital; and not relishing the pros¬ 
pect, devised the scheme I have described to escape 
from it. The necessary tendency of this despotic 
system, is, not only to foster deceit and falsehood 
among the people, but to repress the efforts of indus¬ 
try and paralyze the powers of invention; for no 
man will sow where he has no prospect of reaping. 
Security of life and property is one of the essential 
elements which distinguish true civilization from a 
state of barbarism. There can be no real liberty in 
a country, the inhabitants of which are debarred from 
the legitimate exertion of their powers, or not pro¬ 
tected in the possession of the property they have 
fairly acquired. 

And if these things are so, then the agrarian 


MUTUAL DEPENDENCE. 


101 


reformers of our clay, who declaim against the accu¬ 
mulation of fortunes, and demand a distribution of all 
large estates among the poor, have mistaken their 
country. They are the types and representatives of 
barbarism, a foul excrescence on the fair face of 
Christian civilization; and their proper place is with 
the horde of extortioners who do the bidding of the 
Shah of Persia or the Grand Mogul. The attempts 
which men of this stamp put forth, to array the poor 
against the rich, to make them feel that the rich are 
their oppressors and the enemies of society, are of 
such flagitious wickedness, that any legislature would 
be warranted in making them a penitentiary offence. 
The interests of a community, certainly of any com¬ 
munity in this country, are too firmly interlaced to 
be torn asunder, without inflicting irreparable injury 
upon the body politic. There is a reciprocal inter¬ 
dependence of the various classes and professions 
upon one another. The same principles which guard 
the ample wealth of the capitalist from invasion, 
secure to the weaver his loom, to the shoemaker his 
bench, to the drayman his cart, to the labourer his 
dollar-a-day and the little furniture which adorns his 
attic. The very capitalist, whom some blustering 
Fourierite may stigmatize in his harangues as a use¬ 
less and rapacious leech whose resources ought to be 
thrown into a common stock, once sat, perhaps, at 
9 * 


102 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


liis loom, or hammered at the anvil, or served as 
proof-boy in a printer’s office. Living in a land of 
law, where the strongest motives impelled him to 
exertion, and the whole power of the State guarded 
his humble earnings, he has risen, by the favour of 
Providence, to his present honourable position. Is 
there an honest weaver or blacksmith or printer to 
be found, who will say that his fellow-craftsman is to 
be blamed, or that our institutions are to be denounced 
as unjust and oppressive, because they admit of such 
results as this? Unjust to whom? Oppressive to 
whom ? Surely not to the poor. They, of all classes, 
have the least reason to complain of a system which 
makes it practicable for them, which even makes it 
an every-day thing with' them, to emerge from their 
condition of dependence, surround themselves with 
the comforts of life, and bestow upon their families 
the advantages which a competence can always com¬ 
mand. # 

This, however, is not all. The capitalist is so far 
from being an incubus, that he is quite indispensable 
to the vigorous and healthy working of the great 
social machine. Let the entire property of Philadel¬ 
phia be thrown into a common stock, and divided 
fro rata among its population: and what would be 
the effect ? At one blow, the banks, insurance offices, 
savings-funds, and other financial institutions, would 


AN AGRARIAN REFORMATION. 


103 


tumble to the ground. The large mercantile houses, 
which give 'employment to so many clerks, porters, 
draymen, coopers, carpenters, and the like, would 
dwindle into small retail shops. All the business 
which now rests on a credit-basis would cease. Not 
a hammer would be heard in the ship-yards. The 
silence of death would replace the intolerable, but 
productive, clatter of the foundries and machine-shops. 
All the spindles in the factories would stop at once, 
and those in private tenements would soon follow 
them. Dismantled ships would deform the wharves. 
Idlers and vagabonds would throng the streets. Fresh 
prisons and alms-houses would be needed, and there 
would be neither funds nor credit to build them. 
'Our noble array of religious and charitable associa¬ 
tions would be shorn of their efficiency, if not anni¬ 
hilated. And, in fine, this proud metropolis would 
disclose the symptoms of a universal and remediless 
decay, and the multitudes, as they passed by, “ would 
say, every man to his neighbour, ‘ Wherefore hath 
the Lord done thus unto this great city V ” 

While, however, this prejudice against capital, 
whether personal or associated, is a shallow and 
hateful feeling, and while the absolute security of 
property and the accumulation of riches are admitted 
to be essential to the prosperity of States and the 
diffusion of Christianity, it is quite possible for indi 


104 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

viduals to aspire after wealth with an inordinate pas¬ 
sion, and to pursue it by unwarrantable and pernicious 
methods. In vindicating the established institutions 
of society against the revolutionary doctrines of 
pseudo-reformers, we by no means assume the cham¬ 
pionship of the commercial classes, in respect either 
to all their usages, or to the animus by which they 
are so largely controlled. In particular, if the Bible 
is to be recognized as an authority in the Counting- 
House, the stamp of a stern and decisive reproba¬ 
tion must be put upon that passion for sudden 
wealth which has long been one of our prominent 
national characteristics. This, indeed, is no new sin 
in the world. It is, in any event, as old as the time of 
Solomon. And it is curious to trace its diagnosis in 
his day. Thus he says, “ He that maketh haste to 
be rich, shall not be innocent.” Again: “ An inheri¬ 
tance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but 
the end thereof shall not be blessed.” And again: 
“ He that hasteth to be rich, hath an evil eye, and 
considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.” 
(Proverbs, 28 : 20, 22. 20 : 21.) This appears to be 
the identical disease which has come down to our 
day — identical, even if we combine with the symp¬ 
toms noted by Solomon, the consequences pointed 
out by the apostle a thousand years later: — “ But 
they that will be rich, fall into temptation and a 


A CHRONIC MALADY. 


105 


snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which 
drown men in destruction and perdition. For the 
love of money is the root of all evil: which, while 
some coveted after, they have erred from the faith 
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 
(X. Tim. 6: 9, 10.) The malady and its effects are 
the same now as of old, and it is at least as common 
and as malignant in this country as in any other. 

I am aware with what jealousy remarks from the 
pulpit on this subject are likely to he listened to. 
You are apt to feel that when the pulpit denounces 
the lust of prompt and eager accumulation, it touches 
upon ground beyond its jurisdiction, and betrays an 
ignorance of the legitimate ends and methods of 
traffic. You are ready to ask, somewhat tartly, 
“ Whether it is not one of the proper objects of trade 
to make money?” and “Whether there is any more 
sin in clearing five hundred dollars a day, than fifty?” 
But these are mere cavils. They are rarely uttered 
in good faith, and therefore they require no answer. 
Every merchant worthy of the name, understands the 
nature and the pernicious working of the passion I 
have spoken of, as distinguished from the genuine 
commercial spirit. The strength and prevalence of 
it in this country, are to be ascribed to a variety of 
causes, among which may be enumerated, the genius 
and tendency of our liberal institutions, the extent 


106 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

and variety of our physical resources, the absence of 
all aristocratic distinctions and the consequent social 
importance and influence which follow the distribution 
of wealth, the enterprise and ambition developed by 
the peculiar circumstances of our country, and the 
momentum impressed upon the age by the discovery 
of new mechanical powers, fresh inventions in the 
arts, and the unexampled concentration of the talent 
and the science of the world, upon matters pertaining 
to the practical improvement of society and the eco¬ 
nomical well-being of the individual man. These and 
other agencies have combined to stimulate the love 
of money to a very unhealthy degree, and to inocu¬ 
late the nation at large (it may almost be said) with 
a restless hankering after wealth. 

In the Counting-room, this passion displays itself 
in an intense eagerness for large and quick profits. 
The ordinary profits of business are neither very 
quick nor very large. It is one of the most common 
of all errors with young merchants to over-estimate 
them. The prospective results they cipher out, with 
all imaginable skill and pains-taking, are rarely, if 
ever, realized. Many a man of undoubted sagacity 
and tact, has been astounded with the retrospect of 
his first year’s business. Such an excess of personal 
and domestic expenses above his calculations — such 
remissness or dishonesty among his customers — such 


ANTICIPATION AND FRUITION. 


107 


unforeseen vicissitudes in the markets — so many in¬ 
cidental chinks and crevices through which his profits 
have percolated, — he can scarcely credit his own 
senses, when he lays his truth-telling Balance-sheet 
along-side of the magnificent scheme he adjusted with 
so much precision a twelve-month before. The appro¬ 
priate remedy in a case of this kind, any prudent 
merchant could suggest: but prudence is not a 
favourite counsellor with. ardent and ambitious men 
in any department of life. And the too common 
effect is, to put the disappointed parties upon a course 
of policy, which may enlarge their sales, indeed, hut 
will in a greater degree multiply their perils. Tra¬ 
ders in these circumstances not only, but others who 
are more advantageously situated, are apt to revolt 
at the idea of spending a long series of years in the 
“ drudgery” of business. Their profits must in some 
way be increased. This may be tried by taking 
advantage of the distance or the ignorance of custo¬ 
mers, and selling them goods above th& market value, 
or antiquated goods for fresh ones. Firms that at¬ 
tempt this, may succeed in it for a while; but it is 
preposterous to suppose they can carry it on long. 
Buyers are of course on the alert to learn the actual 
state of the market; and whenever they discover that 
their confidence has been abused, they will feel no 
scruple in stigmatising the offending house far and 


108 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. % 

near as as a dishonourable concern.— This expedient 
for securing large profits is not to be commended. 

As little can be said in favour of selling to parties 
without due inquiry as to their commercial standing. 
It might be supposed that self-interest would be a 
sufficient restraint on this point, but the fact is quite 
otherwise. Such are the zealous rivalries of trade, 
that goods enough to stock a score or two of small 
towns, are annually sold to men of no responsibility. 
The embarrassment and difficulty inseparable from 
investigations on this point, must constitute one of 
the chief trials of a mercantile life, a source of anxiety 
akin to that of the paying-teller of a bank, who must 
be all day haunted with apprehension lest some of 
the checks received at his counter may be forgeries. 
But no desire for business will justify recklesness in 
trafficking with men who are without satisfactory 
credentials. It will not do to say, that if you are 
willing to assume the risk, no one else can have any 
reason to complain. There is a question of morals 
here as well as a question of dollars and cents. The 
ethics of the Bible certainly will not sanction your 
running this hazard. Imprudence may amount to a 
sin. And what right have you, even though you might 
afford to lose your whole venture, to set an example 
of rashness, which can hardly fail to have a hurtful 
influence upon other houses ? What right have you 


FACILITY IN TRUSTING. 


109 


to put your imprimatur upon shiftless adventurers, 
who will make the bill of goods you have sold them 
a passport to the confidence of the firms around you ? 
The body to which you belong, has a common interest 
in shutting out from the walks of trade all unsound 
and fraudulent dealers. Many of this description 
must come up with the spring and fall freshets from 
the South and West, w T hich pour themselves into our 
large cities. To countenance them, is to inflict a 
double wrong : it is a wrong to the metropolitan mer¬ 
chant, and an equal wrong to their customers from the 
country. The buyers are no less concerned than the 
sellers, in having their ranks purged of unreliable 
men : for the misdemeanors of these men operate to 
the disadvantage of the body at large, by raising the 
market and impairing that confidence which lies at 
the basis of successful commerce. On these grounds 
we affirm the immorality of that facility in trusting 
parties of no ascertained responsibility,, which so often 
goes along with a craving for sudden wealth. 

On the same principles, it may be observed here 
in passing, every community is liable to suffer more 
or less from instances of fraudulent bankruptcy. 
If one wished to select an emblem of timidity from 
the commercial world, he would fix upon credit. 
Nothing is more easily frightened; nothing so keen 
in scenting danger. To its ear the world is a great 
10 


110 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


whispering-gallery, which transmits every note of 
alarm, whether emanating from the council-chamber 
of a distant cabinet, the cotton-fields of Mississippi, 
the gold mines of California, or the crash of a mer¬ 
cantile establishment. Every example of this latter 
kind, especially if stamped with dishonesty, creates 
distrust, sets capital upon demanding fresh securities, 
increases the difficulty of getting discounts, occasions 
mischievous conjectures as to the stability of other 
houses, and in various ways damages the whole tra¬ 
ding interest. On the low ground of self-protection, 
therefore, every merchant has a stake in keeping up 
the morals of trade to the highest standard, and in 
setting his face as a flint against every form of dis¬ 
honesty. 

It is a natural transition from the topics with which 
we have been occupied, to over-trading. And it will 
not be inappropriate to consider in this connexion, 
the subject of contracting debts , whether with or with¬ 
out a morbid passion for exorbitant and speedy gains. 
The word “over-trading” has a vagueness of meaning 
for which some persons may like it all the better. 
The lexicographers do not recognize it; and if they 
should, they would be obliged to substitute a periph¬ 
rasis for a definition. And yet for all practical 
purposes it is sufficient to say, that it denotes the 
doing a business disproportionate to one’s capital. 


OVER-TRADING. 


Ill 


The just relation, it is true, between capital and busi¬ 
ness, is not immutable. The same capital would 
perhaps warrant a business of a half-million now, 
which wmuld not have warranted a quarter of a mil¬ 
lion a few years ago — such is the general prosperity 
of the country, and so favourable, in a commercial 
view, the condition of the world at large. These, 
however, are the seasons wdien men are tempted to 
be imprudent. Disregarding the contingencies in¬ 
volved in so auspicious a state of things, and borne 
onward upon the current of a redundant success, they 
are induced to assume new engagements and to extend 
their transactions, until it would startle them, could 
they pause long enough to see upon how slender and 
fragile a base they have reared their imposing super¬ 
structure. They did not mean to be imprudent. 
But it requires a more than Fabian virtue for a mer¬ 
chant to be moderate and tranquil when all his neigh¬ 
bours are flying towards the goal of Fortune with a 
telegraphic velocity. Few men can, in these circum¬ 
stances, resist the tendency to do indiscreet things. 
Not only is the dividing line between prudence and 
imprudence obscured, but the landmarks of right and 
wrong glimmer before them as they would if their 
eyes were smitten with the cataract. They do not 
see — they are not anxious to see — where they ought 
to stop buying goods, nor where they should stop 


112 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


selling. They are not in a mood for examining 
Ledgers and Bank-books. Figures have lost their 
fixed, mathematical significance. They look at them 
through a combination of cross-lights, which makes 
another thing of them. All their estimates and cal¬ 
culations tend in one direction, because they exclude 
from them any proper consideration of the hazards and 
uncertainties incident to their extravagant operations. 
And if ever some experienced friend ventures to hint 
that they may be going too fast, the monition is 
treated as the well-meant, but womanish, fear of one 
whose ideas quite antedate this sublime era of loco¬ 
motives and electric telegraphs.— This imperial style 
of doing business might answer, if it were not for one 
trifling consideration, to wit, the necessity, so much 
insisted upon, of a man’s paying his debts; for 
“ creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of 
set days and times.” Absolution from this practice, 
would put it in the power of our adventurous traf¬ 
fickers to replenish their warehouses with an inex¬ 
haustible stock of goods, and to do an amount of 
business commensurate with their largest ambition. 
But in default of such exemption, the period of set¬ 
tlement will by and by co*me round, when the cata¬ 
racts will be removed, and the figures will stand out 
in all their colossal proportions, and nothing will 
answer, in place of the profound calculations and 


ENDORSING. 


113 


brilliant day-dreams of the business-season, but vulgar 
cash — sober, substantial money, that can be weighed 
like lead, and with as little poetry in it. The scenes 
which are apt to follow, need not be described : there 
will be occasion to refer to them hereafter. Enough 
for the present, to have glanced at the usual winding- 
up of a career of over-trading. 

Improvidence in contracting debts, is but a part 
of the same system. An excessive business demands 
excessive means, and these means can be obtained 
only by borrowing. Borrowing, again, requires en¬ 
dorsing, and endorsing becomes a reciprocal thing. 
A. endorses for B., and B. endorses for A.; and, 
keeping their accounts in different banks, to say 
nothing of loans from private bankers, they are able 
to get all the money they want, and, possibly, a great 
deal more than they ought to have. It may seem 
presumptuous to impugn a principle which has the 
general sanction of the commercial world; but no one 
can deny that the practice of endorsing is peculiarly 
liable to abuse. In the first place, the security it 
affords is very often of no real value. Such are the 
mutual responsibilities of endorsers, that the failure 
of one is the failure of all: when one link gives way, 
the chain is gone. In the second place, the custom 
encourages imprudence. It is hazardous to put a 
man in a position to feel that if his plans succeed, all 
10 * 


114 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


the gains will he his own, and if they fail, he can 
share the loss with his neighbours. Why should you 
lend your name to a man to do that which he would 
not feel it safe to do if he were going to risk only his 
own capital? This, I am aware, is not always the 
case in endorsing, hut it is frequently the case. And 
the conviction that an endorser is at hand, will bring 
up questions before the mind in a very specious and 
illusive aspect. To contract a debt is a serious mat¬ 
ter ; but it loses half its gravity when half its respon¬ 
sibility is cancelled. The feeling is, “ I will go into 
this operation if you will stand by me; if not, I will 
let it alone.” To say that this is necessarily a wrong 
feeling, or that the transaction must be an unwise 
one, would be going too far. But will it be denied 
that very many of the transactions undertaken in this 
spirit, might better be let alone? that they even 
trench on the line of strict honesty ? Honesty forbids 
that we should assume obligations without having, on 
a fair and reasonable estimate of things, the ability to 
discharge them. The moment a man is assured of 
an endorser, he is in danger of over-estimating his 
resources. Mistaking the nature of the arrangement, 
he even regards the endorsement as pro tanto an 
accession to his capital; whereas not one dollar is 
added to his capital, but his liabilities are increased 
to the full amount of the sum borrowed. I say “ his 


DISASTROUS FRUITS OF THE SYSTEM. 115 


liabilities,” because in morals they are his in a sense 
in which they are not his endorser’s. The law may 
hold them to a joint responsibility; and integrity 
will exact payment of the endorser if the drawer fails. 
But the drawer is bound to the endorser. He has no 
more moral right to procure an endorsement without 
adequate means of protecting it, than he has to order 
a bill of goods without the means of paying it. Just 
in proportion, however, to the facility with which 
endorsements can be obtained, will men of limited 
capital, who are impatient for the profits or the 
honour of a large business, be tempted to use them. 
It is on this ground — as an enticement to rashness 
and a bait to dishonesty — that a teacher of morals 
is authorized to remonstrate against the prevalent 
abuse of this principle of endorsing in the commercial 
world. 

There is a third objection, viz.: that it is a fruitful 
source of financial disaster and ruin. It ruins, fre¬ 
quently, the very parties who resort to it, by seducing 
them, in the way just specified, into mercantile extra¬ 
vagances wholly incommensurate with their means. 
It ruins endorsers. And among these, too often, are 
men whose improvident kindness reduces their fami¬ 
lies to penury. Inquire of the decayed merchants 
of any city, go through the teeming ranks of seam¬ 
stresses, school-mistresses, and boarding-house keep- 


116 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


ers, go to the widows’ asylums and other kindred 
institutions, and see what an amount of suffering and 
sorrow you can trace to this vicious principle of 
endorsing. It is a perennial fountain of trouble, the 
bitter streams of wdiich have desolated thousands of 
once happy homes. One is sometimes almost ready, 
in surveying a wreck of this kind, to denounce the 
principle itself, which has been the occasion of the 
disaster, as unworthy of a place among the imple¬ 
ments of honourable commerce. Nor is this feeling 
abated by the suggestion, that no one is compelled 
to endorse for his friend, and that it is wrong for 
men to assume responsibilities of this sort dispropor- 
tioned to their property. It is wrong. No man has 
a right to imperil the comfort and earthly happiness 
of his family for the sake of accommodating his 
neighbour. Good neighbourhood has its claims, but 
this is not one of them. And it is a sad thing that 
men should so often lack the firmness to refuse 
favours which they cannot grant without jeoparding 
the interests of their own households. Still, men will 
do these things. They will put their names on paper 
which they ought no more to touch than they would 
dally with a rattle-snake. And the process will go 
on as it has gone; other families will be ruined, and 
widows and orphans without number will continue to 
swell the ranks of the unfortunate victims of endorsing. 




RUNNING IN DEBT. 


117 


It should not, therefore, excite surprise that persons 
who look at the working of the principle from a dis¬ 
tance, take up the conviction that there is something 
wrong in it; that the alleged commercial necessity for 
retaining it, if not of the most stringent character, 
ought to give way. to the numberless social and moral 
evils it produces; and that, in any event, some further 
efforts should be made in the way of legislative enact¬ 
ments or otherwise, to abate the intolerable abuses 
now incident to the system. 

These observations can scarcely be deemed out of 
place in treating of the contracting of debts. Un¬ 
happily, the laxness which prevails on the subject of 
endorsing, is not confined to that mode of running in 
debt. The current tone of the business-world on this 
point, is quite below the proper standard, No one 
would wish to see all the trafficking of the world 
reduced to cash payments. Credit is one of the 
beneficent fruits of Christian civilization, and, though 
itself an effect, is in turn a most powerful agent in 
developing the resources of nations and accelerating 
their progress. But to contract debts without a rea¬ 
sonable prospect of being able to pay them when they 
become due, is both a sin and a sure source of per¬ 
plexity and trouble. That is a very pregnant aphor¬ 
ism, “the borrower is servant to the lender.” Dr. 
Franklin has expanded this thought in one of his 


118 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

pithy essays. “ Think what you do when you run 
in debt: you give to another power over your liberty. 
If you cannot pay at the time, you will he ashamed 
to see your creditor, you will be in fear when you 
speak to him, when you will make poor, pitiful ex¬ 
cuses, and by degrees come to lose your veracity and 
sink into base, downright lying: for 4 the second vice 
is lying, the first is running in debt,’ as poor Richard 
says; and again, to the same purpose, ‘ Lying rides 
upon debt’s backwhereas a free-born Englishman* 
ought not to be ashamed nor afraid to see or speak 
to any man living.” These are among the ordinary 
effects of recklessness in contracting debts. It puts 
a man in bondage to his creditors, and makes him 
shun them. .It drives peace from his bosom, and 
brings down a cloud upon his brow. It fills him with 
harrowing apprehensions of disaster. It puts him, or 
may put him, upon shifts and expedients for averting 
the dreaded storm which he once would not have 
resorted to, and which the Bible in his counting- 
room (if he have one there) will not sanction. Un¬ 
derstand — this is not said indiscriminately of men in 
debt, but of those who have been culpably improvident 
in contracting debts. There is no necessary disgrace 
attached to being in debt, nor to being unable to 

* Written before the Revolution. 


9 



THE DEBTOR’S PENALTY. 


119 


meet one’s engagements. Such are the contingencies 
of commerce that the most honourable and prudent 
men may find themselves in this situation ; and they 
have no cause to feel abashed, no reason to shrink 
from meeting their creditors as freely as they have 
always met them. The creditor who in a case of 
this sort would not treat his unfortunate neighbour or 
correspondent with courtesy and kindness, is unworthy 
of a place among upright merchants. But these 
examples, it is to be feared, are the exceptions. A 
large portion of the debts which involve mercantile 
houses in embarrassment, are to be traced to a grasp¬ 
ing after sudden wealth, to the ambition of doing a 
great business, or to extravagance in living. Im¬ 
pelled by these causes, men of moderate means com 
mit themselves to the resistless current which sweeps 
through the channels of commerce, and are too much 
regaled with the omens of an opulent prosperity to 
observe whither it is bearing them. When the en¬ 
chantment is at length dissolved, they learn how 
much easier it is to contract liabilities than to meet 
them. And they have ample opportunity to consider 
•whether a transient eclat for enterprise, or an evan¬ 
escent notoriety for splendid entertainments, is any 
adequate recompense for a ruined business, the dis¬ 
pleasure of creditors, and a wounded conscience. 

I am acquainted with an estimable young man who 






120 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


remarked one day, “ If I cannot make money enough 
by the time I am thirty years old, I don’t wish to do 
business.” What would his grandfather have thought 
of a youth who had made that observation in his day ? 
What would our senior merchants have thought, forty 
years ago, of a system of business which contemplated 
a man’s retiring on a fortune at thirty ! This, to be 
sure, may not prove that the feeling is a wrong one. 
Nor, as a matter of fact, is the plan without some 
actual examples to illustrate it. But the sentiment I 
have quoted, is useful as showing the ideas of busi¬ 
ness which prevail in our day. It was the view my 
young friend had imbibed while a clerk in Market 
street, and which, it must be conceded, fairly reflects 
the spirit of the times. It is the identical spirit I 
have been combating in this Lecture, and which 
every one must resist, who would have the* Bible 
established in our Counting-Houses. It is, in a 
word, a craving after sudden wealth. It ignores all 
the moral uses of a frugal and industrious life. It 
overlooks all the contingencies of trade. It proceeds 
on the assumption that “ a fortune” can certainly be 
made within a specified period. So visionary a theory 
might at first be deemed very harmless; but while it 
is powerless for good, it has a great capacity for evil. 
Aspiring to the fulfilment of its ow T n prophecy, it 
must predispose those who embrace it, to adopt the 


RETIRING AT THIRTY. 


121 


very measures we have been reprobating as devices 
for rapid and excessive accumulation. It is a danger¬ 
ous thing for a man to set out in business with the 
feeling, that his work is to be done in at most ten years, 
and then he is to enjoy his wealth for the rest of his 
days. He will need, on this plan, to insure something 
besides his property. For it will be a miracle if he 
runs through his brief, but tumultuous, circuit, with¬ 
out compromising his integrity and debasing his con¬ 
science. And aside from this, whence comes the 
vagrant notion that you can “ enjoy” life only when 
you shall have earned a discharge from business? 
Business certainly has its cares and its anxieties; but 
it were a curious classification of things, to array busi¬ 
ness and happiness against each other — to assign 
business to one portion of life, and enjoyment to an¬ 
other. Good and evil are not arranged in these 
massive strata, but intermixed throughout the whole 
of life. There are no happier men than some whom 
you could find among the busiest of our busy mer¬ 
chants ; there are none more miserable than some 
whose ample patrimony or acquired wealth has exon¬ 
erated them from the necessity of labour, and left 
them to die of ennui. Viewed as classes, the balance 
is strongly in favour of the working, as distinguished 
from the retired, men. The latter not unfrequently 
find the vacuity of a leisure life so intolerable, that 
11 


122 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


after a few years they put on the harness again, and 
go back to the counting-room.* You must have 
observed how much deeper and more enduring is the 
interest your children take in a toy or play-thing 
which is to be thrown or turned or worked in some 
way, than in one which is simply to stand under a 
glass vase and be looked at. We are but grown 
children. You may renounce Market street at thirty, 
and build your elegant mansion and adorn it with 
objects of luxury and taste, but unless you have some 
employment with it, you will soon tire of looking at 
the beautiful toy, and long for something on which 
your powers can exert themselves. I need not dwell 
upon a topic which will recur again; but rely upon 
it, any theory of life must be wrong which disparages 

* “ Every one knows the story of the tallow-chandler, who, 
having amassed a fortune, disposed of his business, and taken 
a house in the country, not far from London, that he might 
enjoy himself, after a few months’ trial of a holiday-life, 
requested permission of his successor, to come into town and 
assist him on melting days. I have heard of one who kept a 
retail spirit-shop, and having in like manner retired from 
trade, used to employ himself by having one puncheon filled 
with water, and measuring it by pints into another. I have 
also heard of a butcher in a small country-town, who, some 
little time after he had left off business, informed his old cus¬ 
tomers that he meant to kill a lamb once a-week, just for his 
amusement 1” — The Doctor. 



WHILST WE LIVE, LET US LIVE. 


123 


reputable labour, or neglects the sources of present 
enjoyment in visionary anticipations of future good. 

“ All earthly comforts vanish thus; 

So little hold of them have we, 

That we from them, or they from us, 

May in a moment ravished be. 

Yet we are neither just nor wise, 

If present mercies we despise; 

Or mind not how there may be made 
A thankful use of what we have.” 

The future is not ours; and should it ever become 
ours, it will bring its own cares more certainly than 
its own pleasures. What we are concerned with is 
present duty. It is a sad and foolish mistake to 
spend life in getting ready to live. There is a sense 
in which the famous Epicurean apothegm, “ Dum 
vivimus vivamus,” “ Whilst we live, let us live,” ex¬ 
presses a wholesome truth. Dr. Doddridge, whose 
family motto it was, has paraphrased it in what Dr. 
Johnson justly terms “ one of the finest epigrams in 
the English language.” 

“ Live while you live, the Epicure would say, 

And seize the pleasures of the present day. 

Live while you live, the sacred Preacher cries, 

And give to God each moment as it flies. 

Lord, in my views let both united be; 

I live in pleasure while I live to thee.” 

If you cultivate this spirit, making the Bible your 


124 THE BIBLE IN TIIE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

daily chart and text-book, and trusting in Christ for 
pardon while you walk in the way of his precepts, 
you will neither find a business-life such hopeless 
drudgery, nor be impatient of the day when you are 
to exchange the bondage of the Counting-room for 
an Elysium of idleness. 

Nor let it be supposed that a retirement from busi¬ 
ness will necessarily deaden that excessive passion for 
wealth, which has been rebuked in this Lecture. The 
Ethiopian does not so readily change his skin, nor 
the leopard his spots. The covetousness which has 
ruled a man through all the activities of his working 
days, will not let go its mastery on his ceasing to 
work. It may assume a new form. The essential 
principle or core of avarice, is selfishness. And no 
man need bless himself that he is a stranger to the 
worship of Mammon, who is spending all his revenues 
in self-indulgence. “ Ilis hand, like a channel, may 
be ever open; and because his income may be per¬ 
petually flowing through it, the unreflecting world, 
taken with appearances, may hold him up as a pat¬ 
tern of generosity; but the entire current is absorbed 
by his own selfishness. That others are indirectly 
benefited by his profusion, does not enter into his 
calculations; he thinks only of his own gratification. 
It is true, his mode of living may employ others; 
but he is the idol of the temple — they are only 



SELFISH PROFUSION. 


125 


priests in his service; and the prodigality they are 
empowered to indulge in, is only intended to decorate 
and do honour to his altar. To maintain an exten¬ 
sive establishment, to carry it high before the world, 
to settle his children respectably in life, to maintain 
a system of costly self-indulgence, — these are the 
objects which swallow up all his gains, and keep him 
in a constant fever of ill-concealed anxiety; filling 
his heart with envy and covetousness at the sight of 
others’ prosperity; rendering him loath to part with a 
fraction of his property to benevolent purposes; and 
making him feel as if every farthing of his money so 
employed were a diversion of that farthing from the 
great ends of life. New channels of benevolence may 
open around him in all directions; but as far as he 
is concerned, those channels must remain dry; for, 
like the sands of the desert, he absorbs all the bounty 
•which Heaven rains on him, and still craves for more. 
. What but this is commonly meant by the expression 
concerning such a man, that 4 he is living up to his 
income’ ?”* 

This is one type of covetousness among the men 
w r ho have given up business. Its more vulgar form, 
that of hoarding, is no less familiar. It is a curious 
and instructive fact, that rich men are usually more 


* Harris. 



126 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

disposed to hoard after relinquishing business than 
before. What with the constant handling of money, 
the ceaseless barter of commerce, and the excitement 
kept up in a career of trafficking, their hearts have 
little opportunity to get steeled against all generous 
impulses. But when they exchange the counting-room 
for the snug domestic office or the library, and have 
nothing to do hut receive their rents and interest and 
dividends, every dollar stands out in its own import¬ 
ance, and it becomes a serious matter to divert this 
money from new investments. To contribute a hun¬ 
dred dollars to a charity, would be to “lose” or 
“throw away” the interest on more than sixteen 
hundred! A donation of a thousand dollars, would 
swallow up the interest of nearly seventeen thousand ! 
If they had less leisure, they might consent. But to 
look such “sacrifices” deliberately in the face, and 
then submit to them, is more than their virtue is 
equal to. This revenue too, once in hand, is no 
longer, in their view, of the nature of interest; it 
belongs to their principal; and they have a profound 
reverence for the maxim which requires a man to 
keep his principal intact under all circumstances. 
Thus they reason: the swelling income passes, from 
one six-months to another, into the body of the 
estate: and the love of money grows apace with 
every fresh investment. Most other vices find a 


AVARICE, A BAR TO HEAVEN. 127 

partial corrective in the gradual decay of the physical 
powers; but avarice is proverbially the vice of old 
age, and 

-“ rarely venturing in the van of life, 

While nobler passions wage their heated strife, 

Comes skulking last, with Selfishness and Fear, 

And dies collecting lumber in the rear!” 

Worse than “lumber” it is apt to prove — worse for 
themselves and for their heirs. For what can be 
more adverse to a man’s spiritual good, more unfa¬ 
vourable to serious thought, more hostile to all ade¬ 
quate preparation for eternity, than to sell himself, 
as he is growing old, to Mammon ? Those are very 
solemn words, “No covetous man, who is an idolater, 
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and 
of God.” The “covetous shall not inherit the king¬ 
dom of God.” How is it possible for men to elude 
this doom who are basely betraying their stewardship, 
and making it the chief end of life to enlarge an 
already overgrown fortune ? — And, then, as to their 
children, for whose “benefit” they are denying them¬ 
selves the true enjoyment of this life and hazarding 
all prospect of the life to come, what is more common 
than to see such a property become a curse to its 
inheritors ? 

But, happily, among those who retire from business, 
there are men who have no affinity with either of the 


128 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


classes that have been mentioned. They are among 
the brightest ornaments of our social state, and 
worthy of all the honour which is so uniformly 
accorded to them. It is one of their principles that 
accumulation has its moral limits, and that beyond 
these (varying, however, with men’s circumstances) a 
fortune ought not to be increased. It is another 
principle with them, that wealth has its duties no less 
than its privileges. It is a third principle with them, 
that in managing and disposing of an estate, every 
man is bound to govern himself by the teachings of 
the Bible. — I can picture to myself a merchant, 
who, having relinquished business after a long and 
honourable career, has addressed himself to the 
remaining duties of his stewardship, under the gui¬ 
dance of these elevated principles. I see him the 
tenant of a stately and beautiful mansion, furnished 
in a manner suitable to his fortune and position. I 
censure not the works of art I find there. As long 
as Jubal’s skill is perpetuated in “such as handle the 
harp and the organ,” I dare not proscribe these 
instruments of music. While God continues to raise 
up Bezaleels and Aholiabs, and to “ fill them with 
wisdom and knowledge to devise cunning works, to 
work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in 
cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of 
timber, to work in all manner of workmanship,” I 


A PORTRAIT. 


129 


dare not say, these sculptures and paintings and por¬ 
celains and mosaics are prohibited indulgences, and 
should have no place here. Still less should I pre¬ 
sume to ask, Why is not this needless conservatory 
sold, and the proceeds given to the poor ? The pro¬ 
prietor of this mansion has, in my view, a right to 
indulge himself in these elegant tastes: and it is 
pleasant to meet them, combined with sterling reli¬ 
gious principle and Christian refinement. If this 
scene defined the sum of his being, the case were 
different. But he is one with whom these studies 
and objects are the mere fringe and ornament of life, 
not its end or substance. Remembering his steward¬ 
ship, he cares not to augment his ample estate. No 
dollar of interest with him ever petrifies into principal. 
His entire income, after deducting personal and house¬ 
hold expenses, goes to promote the happiness of his 
fellow-creatures and the prosperity of religion. He 
exercises a sound discrimination in his benefactions. 
The poor have in him a liberal and judicious friend. 
He is wont to aid deserving young men in obtaining 
an education. He secretly assists meritorious fami¬ 
lies that have experienced reverses, and struggling 
individuals whom most persons would pass by as being 
too well off to be entitled to help. He keeps his eye 
upon the progress of Christianity at home and abroad, 
and a munificent, though unostentatious, benevolence 


130 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


attests his cordial interest in whatever pertains to the 
kingdom of Christ and the salvation of men. And, 
to his other offices of kindness, he superadds such 
personal services as it may be in his power to render 
to useful public institutions, or to individuals requiring 
counsel or succour. 

Men of this sort there are among our retired mer¬ 
chants. You will not be. long in forming your esti¬ 
mate of them, as contrasted either with those who are 
consuming all their income in a lavish self-indulgence, 
or with their compeers whose hoarding propensities 
increase with their gold and their years. Let it be 
your care, should Providence ever place you among 
them, to shun the extremes of prodigality and penuri¬ 
ousness ; to dedicate yourselves and your property to 
the service of God and the good of mankind; and to 
illustrate the excellence of that practical godliness 
which fits men to enjoy their earthly riches, and 
secures to them an inalienable portion beyond the 
grave. 


THE SOUTH-SEA COMPANY. 


131 



Xnlntt 

SPECULATING. 


An impression prevailed in England a century and 
a half ago, that the wealth of South America was 
inexhaustible. This led to the chartering, in the 
year 1711, of the famous “ South-Sea Company,” on 
which was conferred the exclusive right of trading 
with that country, together with other important 
privileges. Visionary as were the professed objects 
of this association, the most extravagant statements 
were circulated respecting its prospects. The man¬ 
agers declared enormous dividends from their alleged 
profits, and by this and other means not unknown in 
the financial world, the scheme was crowned with 
unparalleled success. The stock rose until in the 
year 1720, it was eagerly bought at 1000 per cent , 
premium. As the natural effect of this gigantic 
experiment, the country was soon filled with specu¬ 
lating projects of all sorts. Innumerable joint-stocx 
companies started up everywhere. Every day brought 


132 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

its fresh “ bubble.” Some of these were of so pre¬ 
posterous a character that their titles could not be 
recited here without exciting an unbecoming merri¬ 
ment. One of them was styled, “A company for 
carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but 
nobody to know what it is.” The projector of this 
bold appeal to the public credulity, required a deposit 
of £2 on each share of ,£100 each, and engaged to 
each depositor a return of <£100 per annum. He 
opened his office, and the first day received subscrip¬ 
tions for 1000 shares, with the requisite deposit of 
£2000. With this sum, he quietly withdrew that 
evening to the continent, and was never heard of 
again. This well-authenticated transaction may illus¬ 
trate the mania which had seized upon the public 
mind. “ From morning until evening, Change Alley 
was filled to overflowing with one dense moving mass 
of living beings, composed of the most incongruous 
materials, and in all things, save the mad pursuit 
wherein they were employed, utterly opposed in their 
principles and feelings, and far asunder in their sta¬ 
tions in life and the professions they followed. States¬ 
men and clergymen deserted their high stations to 
enter upon this grand theatre of speculation and 
gambling; and churchmen and dissenters left their 
fierce disputes, and forgot their wranglings upon 
church-government, in the deep and hazardous game 




A COMMUNITY CRAZED. 


133 


they were playing for worldly treasures, and for 
riches which, even if won, were liable to disappear 
within the hour of their creation. Whigs and tones 
buried their weapons of political warfare, discarded 
party animosities, and mingled together in kind and 
friendly intercourse, each exulting as their stocks 
advanced in price, and murmuring dissatisfaction and 
disappointment when fortune frowned upon their wild 
operations; and lawyers, physicians, merchants, and 
tradesmen, forsook their employments, neglected their 
business, and disregarded their engagements, to whirl 
giddily along with the swollen stream, to be at last 
engulphed in the wide sea of bankruptcy. Men of 
the highest rank were deeply engaged in stock-jobbing 
transactions; and investments in the most worthless 
bubbles of the age were made by them in heavy 
sums, and without the least hesitation or previous 
inquiry. Females mixed with the crowd; and for¬ 
getting the stations and employments which nature 
had fitted them to adorn, dealt boldly and extensively 
m the bubbles that rose before them, and like those 
by whom they were surrounded, rose from poverty to 
wealth, and from that were thrust down to beggary 
and want — and all in one short week, and perhaps 
before the evening which terminated the first day of 
their speculations. Ladies of high rank, regardless 
of every appearance of dignity, and blinded by the 
12 


134 THE BIBLE fN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


prevailing infatuation, drove to the shops of their 
milliners and haberdashers, and there met stock¬ 
brokers whom they regularly employed, and through 
whom extensive sales were daily negotiated. In the 
midst of the excitement, all distinctions of party and 
religion, circumstances and character, were swallowed 
up. Bubbles were blown into existence on every 
hand, and stocks of every conceivable name, nature, 
and description, were issued to an incredible extent.’'* 

It is superfluous to add, that by and by the crash 
came — a crash which shook the land like an earth¬ 
quake. Some of the leaders of the South-Sea scheme 
fled the country, and others were thrown into prison: 
while tens of thousands of people sat them down in 
their poverty, to bemoan the quick and terrible retri¬ 
bution their folly had brought upon them. 

This is a cursory glimpse of a nation bewildered 
with a spirit of Speculation. It is not, unfortu¬ 
nately, so remote from our own experience, that we 
shall find any difficulty in appreciating it. ^imilar 
crises occur at irregular intervals in the history of 
every commercial nation; and the mercantile men 
who listen to these Lectures, can recall a period when 
our own land reeled and staggered under one of these 
catastrophes, as if struck by the hand of Omnipotence. 


* Hunt’s Merchant’s Magazine. 



A FINANCIAL CRISIS. 


135 


You have seen the whole process from beginning to 
end. A superfluity of capital — facile credits — in¬ 
flated prices — all classes maddened with the lust of 
money — Mammon put in the place of God — new 
projects for sudden wealth broached every day — new 
banks, new land-companies, new railroads, new cities, 
new joint-stock associations of all sorts — over-trading 

— shrewd and successful operations — trust-funds in¬ 
vested in bubbles — banks covertly trafficking at the 
stock-board — fortunes made without time or trouble 

— splendid mansions, equipages, entertainments — 
bubbles bursting—banks breaking—merchants break¬ 
ing — stagnation in the streets — silence among the 
spindles — ships rotting at the wharves —defalcations 
-—forged certificates of stock — debtors absconding— 
States repudiating — sheriff’s sales — crowded alms¬ 
houses — interminable dockets—impoverished widows 

— impoverished orphans — general despondency and 
wo! Such are the ensigns of one of these crises, 
which meet the eye: they have blacker shades, and 
more fearful results, which need not be indicated. 
Those who have seen for themselves, as you have, 
will require no daguerreotype sketch: the least out¬ 
line will recall the whole. 

And now, if I undertake to found upon facts like 
these, a remonstrance against unbridled speculation, 
you may try to parry it by reminding me that u all 


136 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


• business is a speculation, so that you must either 
speculate or give up business altogether. ” This is 
not candid. There is no merchant here who does 
not know the difference between the usual workings 
of a speculating mania and the sober methods of 
legitimate commerce. Every one -who is capable of 
moral distinctions, must perceive, that while these 
seasons of redundance and inflation last, wealth is 
taken out of its proper place, and invested with 
adventitious and illusive qualities. Men come insen¬ 
sibly to regard it as the chief good — as indispensable 
to the true enjoyment of life. It takes precedence 
with them of mental culture, social happiness, and 
even moral excellence. They will sacrifice to it com¬ 
fort, health, books, domestic affection, and the very 
ordinances of religion. They hear more talk of 
money and fortunes than of all other topics together. 
The crowds that rush by them on the side-walks are 
fierce after money. They listen to the plaudits 
bestowed upon successful operators. They find that 
the world sets a much higher value upon wealth than 
upon merit. And they become possessed with the 
feeling, that whatever may be neglected, it will never 
do to incur the indignity of not being rich. 

Of course in this eager race after wealth, there 
can be no proper recognition of an overruling Provi¬ 
dence. There is the greatest possible incongruity 


PRACTICAL ATHEISM. 


137 


between the reigning spirit at one of these periods, 
and that cordial, implicit, cheerful reliance upon God, 
which the Bible bids us cherish no less in all our 
secularities than in our spiritual services. The apostle 
has remonstrated with them on this point. “ Go to 
now, ye that say, ‘ To-day or to-morrow we will go 
into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, 
and sell, and get gain’: whereas, ye know not what 
shall be on the morrow. For what is your life ? It 
is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and 
then vanisheth away. For that ye. ought to say, ‘ If 
the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.’ But 
now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing 
is evil.” The temper of mind here inculcated, every 
consideration of modesty, of piety, and even of self- 
interest, bids us cherish: for how absolute is our 
dependence upon God; and what will all our tact 
and energy avail, without his blessing? But v T ho 
among the hosts of speculators, thinks of God in 
framing his plans, or seeks his help in prosecuting 
them? Who would presume to invoke his aid in 
consummating schemes of which He has said, “ He that 
maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.” “Ye 
cannot serve God and mammon.” It is not the least 
of the multitudinous evils bound up in these seasons 
of excitement, that they turn men into practical 
Atheists. They at least have the decency to abstain 
12 * 


138 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


from a pretended reliance upon God, when their real 
feeling is that every thing depends, not upon his 
favour, but upon their own activity and skill in cal¬ 
culating chances and taking advantage of circum¬ 
stances. 

The antagonism of this passion to the genuine 
mercantile spirit has been adverted to. The end of 
honourable commerce is to exchange equivalents for 
mutual advantage. Speculation (using the term in 
its technical sense) looks only to its own good. Like 
a rapacious military chieftain, it aims at self-aggran¬ 
dizement; and this object it pursues, reckless of the 
consequences to others. In the view of a confirmed 
speculator, the aggregate property of a community is 
but the stake in a game of chance; the people at 
large are the players; and each man is to get what 
he can, without caring, or even asking, who loses. 
Such a man must necessarily regard every one around 
him with a jealous eye, especially those in his own 
profession. They are not to him associates and hon¬ 
ourable competitors, whose generous rivalry is to 
stimulate their mutual sagacity and enterprise: they 
are his opposers, almost his enemies. What they 
gain, he loses; and he must lay his plans so as to 
make them lose, that he may pocket their losses. If 
an extreme type of his class, he will not confine his 
hostile demonstrations' to his fellow-traders or co- 


AN ISIIMAELITE. 


139 


financiers. Like Ishmael, liis hand is against every 
man; and, worse than Ishmael, 'even against those 
■whose hand is not against him. lie would as soon 
speculate upon the property of the widow and the 
orphan, as upon any other. It is not a question with 
him in arranging his projects, “ How will this affect 
the interests of others ?” He does not, except on 
selfish grounds, even take the trouble to inquire whose 
interests his manoeuvres are likely to damage. His 
motto is, “Each one for himself;” and if in carrying 
out this very honourable and humane principle, he 
happens to ruin a few families of females and children, 
he comforts himself with the reflection, that “ he was 
not aiming at their ruin, hut only at his own advan¬ 
tage ; and that if they have lost their property, it is 
an incidental evil, for which their guardians are 
responsible, not himself.” 

The base sophistry taught in this school, is in 
keeping with its hardening effect upon the sensibilities 
of men. There are few more loathsome characters 
in society, than the shrewd, cold-blooded operator, 
who will speculate the fortune of an innocent family 
out of their possession into his own, and then have 
the audacity to attempt to soothe the victims of his 
villany by felling them that it was a “fair business- 
transaction.” This is as though a highwayman should 
plunge his knife* into you, and console you, while you 


140 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


■were bleeding to death, by telling yon that he had sev¬ 
ered the arteries scientifically. The sort of operations 
in question may be styled “ fair business-transations,” 
but it can only be in deference to that flagitious code 
of morals already spoken of as having supplanted, in 
some business-circles, the law of God. Tried by the 
Scriptural standard of morality, there is nothing 
“ fair” about them. That standard forbids covetous¬ 
ness ; it prohibits the injuring of the property of 
others; it requires us to do as we would be done by. 
In each of these points, the speculator has contravened 
it. Possibly he has infringed no human law. But 
that must be a very lax integrity, which has no higher 
standard of right and wrong than the statute-book: 
for by far the greater part of the daily dishonesties 
of trade and finance, are too subtle to be caught by 
the meshes of any human legislation. And of what 
force can it be to allege that the sort of transactions 
he has been engaged in, are current in the business- 
world, and have the sanction of “men of character”? 
“Men of character” will sometimes do very strange 
things; and questions of morals are not to be decided 
by a show of hands. There is another tribunal by 
which these cases are to be adjudicated. Let the 
parties implicated consider, whether the paltry pleas 
by which they would gloss over their a\arice and 
oppression, will avail them there. 


ROBBERY AND CHARITY 


141 


The confidence with which the confirmed speculator 
adduces arguments of this kind, shows how callous 
his master-passion has made him to the claims of 
justice and humanity. And yet, inconsistent as it 
may seem, this same man may be found in private 
quite accessible to the appeals of misery. It is in 
his business that he is so unfeeling. Convinced by a 
vicious sophistry that his schemes are no more repre¬ 
hensible than a staid and prudent traffic, he will strip 
a neighbour of his property by a few dexterous oper¬ 
ations, without seeming to know that he is violating 
the plainest principles of integrity — that correspon¬ 
ding conduct in a prince, would make him a tyrant, 
and in a peasant, would make him a robber. And 
of the very fruits of this grasping covetousness, he 
will perhaps contribute to works of charity, while his 
bosom knows nothing beyond a transient feeling of 
regret for the individuals he has ruined. This, how¬ 
ever, is really in keeping with his character. Pro¬ 
fessed gamblers are proverbially prodigal in dispen¬ 
sing their funds, though they are dead to the suffer¬ 
ings of their victims. The spirit of speculation is one 
type of the gambling-spirit. Like that, it grasps at 
sudden wealth; it aims to secure it, not by industry 
and legitimate traffic, but by sleight of hand; and it 
is indifferent as to who suffers, or to what extent, by 
its acquisitions. It is no strange thing, then, that it 


142 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

should also display a similar profusion in disposing 
of its gains. 

It is too apparent to require argument, that 
wherever this spirit enters the walks of trade, it 
must tend to degrade commerce to a system of 
shuffling and trickery. All traffic carries with it 
some degree of insecurity. And yet the established 
laws of trade are on the whole so uniform in their 
operation, that wdiere a community faithfully adhere 
to them, the hazards of business are comparatively 
small. Every intelligent merchant understands its 
chief contingencies; and if he takes these into the 
account in making his contracts, he will not ordinarily 
encounter any great losses. But impregnate this 
sarnie comlnunity with the delirium of speculation, and 
it is like withdrawing the balance-wheel from a mas¬ 
sive piece of machinery. Its movements, before har¬ 
monious and regular, become spasmodic and untrac- 
table, until in the end it may destroy itself and every 
thing within its reach. A people in this condition 
have lost their regulator. Their mutual confidence, 
the foundation of all healthful traffic, is supplanted 
by general suspicion and distrust. The unprincipled 
and the indiscreet plunge into one extravagant scheme 
after another; and thoughtful men prepare, as they 
may, for the fearful collapse which is so certain to 
follow one of these violent paroxysms. 


SANCTITY OF TRUSTS. 


143 


The temptation with which merchants are beset in 
times like this (aside from over-trading), is, to engraft 
speculative projects upon their stated business. It 
would be going too far, to say that this ought never 
to be done. There are houses which have so ample 
a capital, that they can, without imprudence, employ 
a part of their means in judicious enterprises, collat¬ 
eral to their main business. But as a general rule, 
it is unwise and even unwarrantable — unwise, because 
the issue must in every case be doubtful, and, in any 
event, the practice fosters an evil habit of mind: 
unwarrantable, because it is unjust to creditors. It 
is a very specious bait which Satan throws in your 
way, when he invites you to put a few thousand 
dollars temporarily into some brilliant project, which 
is “certain to succeed” — when he whispers in your 
ear, “ Why not accept the boon that Providence offers 
you, and make more money in a month than your 
broadcloths and muslins will bring you in years? 
Why surrender all these golden opportunities to your 
neighbours who are rapidly getting rich by them?”— 
But consider, have you a right to do this ? You may 
purpose to use for it, instead of your own capital, 
certain trust-funds in your hands, which will not 
impair your mercantile resources. But whence do 
you derive your authority ? Unless the terms of the 
trust clearly convey this power, you have no right to 


144 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


touch those funds. They are not yours. You can¬ 
not borrow them. You have hound yourself legally 
and morally, in accepting the trust, to hold them 
exclusively for certain specified objects. You could 
not take them even to keep yourself from breaking. 
You could not take them to supply your family with 
bread. Much less can you use them for a single day 
to carry on a speculation. It is a most dangerous 
thing to invade the sanctity of a trust. The man 
who does it, although from no unworthy motives and 
with the full intention of replacing soon the means he 
“borrows,” has weakened his own sense of obligation 
and put his integrity in imminent jeopardy. He may 
even have in view the good of the party whose trustee 
he is, but if he acts without warrant, this will not 
exculpate him. “ To obey is better than sacrifice, 
and to hearken, than the fat of rams.” Our courts 
and those of England are justly rigorous in enforcing 
fidelity to trusts. And notwithstanding this, the in¬ 
experienced and the helpless are continually falling 
a prey to recklessness or cupidity on the part of their 
financial guardians. Times of speculation especially 
make sad havoc with the consciences of trustees. 
Thousands of widows and children have had reason 
to mourn these disastrous seasons, so fatal to the 
virtue or the prudence of the custodians of their 
little property. 



COLLATERAL SPECULATIONS. 145 

But irrespective of trust-funds, a merchant, I have 
said, is not authorized, in ordinary circumstances, to 
employ his capital or credit in speculations aside from . 
his proper business. The reason is, because this was 
not contemplated by his creditors in their transactions 
with him, and it would be unjust to them. They 
loaned him money, or sold him goods, with the clear 
understanding that he was to confine himself to 
the business he was engaged in. They knew the 
usual risks of trade, and were willing to trust him. 
Had he said to them, “I intend also to speculate 
in stocks,” they might or might not have trusted 
him: — (somewhat remarkable men if they had .) 
In any event, they would have acted with their eyes 
open. But now that he has their property in his 
hands, he has no right to subject it to hazards which 
they never sanctioned. If you add a new flue to 
your store without notifying your insurers, it absolves 
them from all responsibility in case of loss. You are 
violating the same principle, and on a much broader 
scale, when you secretly embark in these foreign 
speculations. You are augmenting the risks of your 
creditors manifoldly, without increasing your premium. 
The original contract is vitiated by the introduction 
of a new element; and they might justly complain 
of you as deceivers and covenant-breakers. You cer¬ 
tainly will not attempt to vindicate this conduct by 
13 


146 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the morality of the Bible: the very least of your 
children, if old enough to grasp the terms of the 
# statement, would tell you that you had done wrong. 

And morality aside, this is madness for a firm, even 
on the score of policy. A habit of this sort is pretty 
certain to become known; and this will give the death¬ 
blow to the credit of any house of limited means. Banks 
and importers will not trust a house which is known 
to be dabbling in stocks or other “extra-hazardous” 
commodities. A year or two since, one of the part¬ 
ners in a wealthy New-York firm lost a large sum of 
money at a watering-place by gambling. The news¬ 
papers reported the occurrence, and the firm was soon 
dissolved. This was their only alternative. Who 
would trust them, after it was known that they had 
a confirmed gambler among them ? The same prin¬ 
ciple applies in the other case. Credit and responsi¬ 
bility are correlative terms. Where there is no pre¬ 
sumed responsibility, there will be no credit. And 
the responsibility of a mercantile house, whose posi¬ 
tion is such that the daily bulletins of the Board of 
Brokers are of more interest to it than the “ Price- 
Current,” is like one of the unknown quantities in an 
algebraic formula. Such a house has no moral right 
to borrow money for pretended commercial purposes, 
and apply it to the purchase of fresh scrip or to the 
liquidation of its losses on previous speculations. This 


LIABILITIES OP COPARTNERS. 147 

is practically conceded by tlie very men who are 
guilty of it. It is consciousness of wrong-doing which 
makes them conceal these things from their creditors: 
for they well know that on giving the least hint of 
them, the loans now so generously granted, would he 
as peremptorily refused. 

It might abate the ardour of those financiers who 
are so eager to entice merchants (or their capital) into 
the Stock Exchange, to consider, that if a member 
of a firm embarks in these speculations without the 
knowledge of his partners, the firm is not bound by 
his engagements. “ The legal authority of the part¬ 
ners” (I use the language of one of the first commer¬ 
cial lawyers in the United States*) “ takes its form 
and shape from the ordinary scope and objects of the 
partnership-business, and is limited to their contracts; 
and acts done by each copartner in the ordinary or 
fair prosecution of the ostensible business of the firm, 
are obligatory on it; beyond this, they are not bind¬ 
ing on the partnership; they are unauthorized, and 
can only be made to affect the copartnership by show¬ 
ing the actual consent of all its members. Thus, a 
house dealing in dry goods, would not ordinarily be 
bound by the purchase, by one of its partners, of a 
ship, unless the purchase were sanctioned by his co- 


* Daniel Lord, Jun., Esquire, of New York. 



148 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

partners. So, a house running a line of packets to 
another port, would not ordinarily be bound by a pur¬ 
chase of hardware by one of its partners. A house 
dealing in hardware would not be bound by a pur¬ 
chase of dry goods, nor would any mercantile firm be 
charged with stock-speculations. — The principle is, 
that by openly pursuing a specific kind of business, 
the copartnership limits are announced, and the co¬ 
partners are not to be deemed authorized to transact 
other kinds on the credit of their firm. The common 
purpose of the union being specific, the acts and con¬ 
duct of the parties having reference to this purpose, 
must conform to the contemplation of the parties; 
nor have the public reason to hold it otherwise.” 

The speculating eras of which we have been speak¬ 
ing, are so associated in the public mind with Banks, 
that it may be proper to make a few observations at 
this point on the management of those institutions. 
Their vital connection with the general prosperity of 
nations, must be too apparent to admit of argument. 
The State has delegated to them one of its highest 
prerogatives, that of creating a currency. The course 
of events has made them not simply conveniences, but 
indispensable implements to the prosecution of com¬ 
merce. Politicians may find it useful to decry the 
entire policy, but no man whose character and expe¬ 
rience are such as to entitle his opinions to respect, 


BANKS. 


149 


would think it expedient to annihilate the present 
hanking system of the world. Then, again, the extent 
of its operations shows how closely it is identified 
with all the substantive interests of commerce. The 
transactions of the fourteen banks in this city, amount, 
on the lowest estimate, to five hundred millions of 
dollars per annum , and may reach twice that sum. 
It will be seen at once, when the number of banks in 
the United States is taken into the account, that 
every citizen, however secluded his situation, has a 
stake in the proper management of this colossal 
enginery. That there is much misconception abroad 
respecting the legitimate functions of these corpora¬ 
tions ; that they are often expected to perform offices 
which have not been confided to them; that the jeal¬ 
ousies and prejudices directed against them are fre¬ 
quently the fruit of private spleen or political craft— 
are points which do not admit of a question; but it 
is not my province to discuss them. There are things 
which the moralist may insist upon. And one of these, 
is, that the directors of a bank or other corporate 
institution, are obviously bound to be faithful to their 
trust. 

This seems a mere truism. But there is a preva¬ 
lent impression that as a practical matter, it is greatly 
neglected. It is alleged, that gentlemen are in the 
habit of seeking a place in the Direction of these 
13 * 


150 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

institutions, whose qualifications are quite apocryphal, 
and whose aims are purely personal. It is further 
alleged, that many gentlemen holding these situations, 
take no pains to keep themselves informed of the 
actual state of the business entrusted to them; that 
they remit the whole control of things to the executive 
officers, with, perhaps, one or two of their own num¬ 
ber; and that thus they are directors who direct 
nothing, or, as we say in the church of a certain 
class of the clergy, “ ministers without charge.” 
If these things are so, the parties implicated may 
well be admonished of their error. They are the 
administrators of a Trust. They have engaged to 
administer it wisely and faithfully, according to their 
ability. They stand before the stock-holders and 
before the public, as the guardians and sponsors of 
important vested rights. Their names inspire confi¬ 
dence in the trust, and invite operations based upon 
its presumed security. This responsibility cannot be 
transferred. They have no moral right, as they have 
no legal authority, to perform their duties by vicar. 
If they are not competent, or if they have not the 
time, to attend to these duties, let them resign. 
While they retain the office, they will be held accoun¬ 
table for diligence and fidelity in meeting its requisi¬ 
tions. This does not imply that they are to usurp 
the functions of presidents, cashiers, and secretaries. 


DUTIES OF DIRECTORS. 


151 


Still less does it exact of them such a supervision as 
shall preclude all possible fraud and forgery on the 
part of unprincipled officials. No human sagacity 
can counterwork villany in all cases. But it does 
import that they shall know what their institution is 
doing, how its funds are employed, and whether it is 
honestly carrying out the ends contemplated in its 
charter. A little more fidelity on the part of Boards 
of Direction, would have prevented some of the 
worst financial “ explosions” which have disgraced 
the country. 

fe Another principle (just hinted at) which a teacher 
of morals may insist upon, is, that these institutions 
shall confine themselves to the objects for ivhich they 
were chartered , and prosecute these with integrity , 
prudence , and impartiality. This they have agreed 
to do in accepting their charters; and it is an immo¬ 
rality, more or less marked, if they come short of it. 
Various questions might arise here, on which casuists, 
no less than financiers, would differ. Declining all 
debateable topics, it is evident that a corporation may 
contravene the spirit, if not the letter, of its charter, 
by wielding its power for political purposes. It is a 
supposable case, for example, that the railroad com¬ 
panies of a State might combine to effect a revolution 
in its politics: or that a bank might employ its funds 
in promoting the election of particular candidates to 


152 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


public offices. This would be a breach of trust: their 
charters were given for no such purposes as these.— 
Equally apparent is it, that an institution which loans 
its money at a usurious interest, is guilty of an immo¬ 
rality. Of the expediency of the usury laws, I am 
not called upon to speak. While they exist, all cor¬ 
porations are bound to respect them — bound, not 
simply by the obligation which rests upon private 
citizens, but by a specific compact which they have 
entered -into with the Commonwealth, and the viola¬ 
tion of which, directly or indirectly, is a crime against 
society. 

There is an opinion somewhat prevalent, that banks 
ought to confine their loans to “ business-men,” and 
that, among these, they should rarely lend money to 
their own directors. We may dissent from this doc¬ 
trine in both its parts, without sanctioning the acknow¬ 
ledged abuses from which it has sprung. The busi¬ 
ness-men of a community may in general be allowed 
a precedence in the way of bank-accommodation, but 
there seems no reason, in the nature of things, why 
all other classes should be excluded. If a physician 
requires a loan for the purchase of a horse, or a law¬ 
yer in buying a library, why should they be denied ? 
And if a merchant becomes a bank-director, possibly 
at a sacrifice of his personal convenience, why should 
this circumstance deprive him of the aid the bank has 


PERVERTED INSTITUTIONS. 


153 


been in the habit of according to him ? But there 
are — at least there have been in former times — 
usages which are justly to be reprobated. In the 
annals of American finance, examples are not want¬ 
ing of institutions which have employed their entire 
resources in illegitimate schemes. The capital which 
should have gone to the promotion of commerce, has 
gone into the hands of favourites, to be used in specu¬ 
lation, or in building ’up a few houses at the expense 
of their neighbours. Notes which have been refused 
at their counters, have been “ done” with the identical 
means elsewhere and at usurious rates. Merchants 
who had an equitable claim upon their help, have 
been left to “ make or break” as they might, wdiile 
the funds they should have received, have been se¬ 
cretly used to carry on some magnificent operations 
on private account. What commerce has lost, the 
stock-exchange has gained. And however it may 
have fared with the plodding traffickers, the specu¬ 
lators have had no cause to complain. 

It is pleasant to think that in so far as our own 
city is concerned, institutions of this sort, if they ever 
had a place amongst us, belong to the province of the 
historian ;* and that if one of them should re-appeai 

* This opinion has been called in question. If it be erro¬ 
neous, the compliment is of course cancelled. But I choose 
to hope for the best. 



154 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


here, it would meet with no sympathy from the banks 
which now adorn our metropolis. Such an institution, 
wherever found, is, in fact, a nuisance. The men 
who control it, faithless to every trust, and swayed 
by the basest motives, are chargeable with a crimi¬ 
nality so much the more flagrant than that of private 
offenders, as they have prostituted to a mercenary 
self-aggrandizement, a more generous confidence and 
more ample resources. They have used the seal of 
the government to sanctify their treachery, and abused 
the confidence of the commonwealth to aim a serious 
blow at its prosperity. To attempt to screen them¬ 
selves behind the impersonality of “ the bank,” is 
only another proof that cupidity and cowardice are 
twin sisters. The “bank” is but an alias for them¬ 
selves. Human jurisprudence may fail of establish¬ 
ing their identity; but it may be worth their while 
to consider, whether it is the “bank” that will be 
called upon to answer for these delinquencies at the 
Great Assize. 

No crisis ever occurs in the money-market, that 
“the banks” do not come in for a lavish amount of 
censure. The usual assumption is, that they have 
had a controlling agency in inflating prices to a dan¬ 
gerous extent, and are therefore responsible for the 
reaction which follows. That this may have been so 
in any particular case, is quite certain. But it ought 


TRUE POSITION OF BANKS. 


155 


to be considered that banks, in their legitimate char¬ 
acter, are not the regulators, but the implements of 
trade ; and that while they may influence the tides 
which bear the great flotillas of commerce, they are 
themselves swaged by those tides. It is not their 
prerogative to decide whether a merchant shall extend 
his business beyond prudent limits or embark in an 
insane speculation. That is his concern. And if a 
community choose to do those things, and find them¬ 
selves after a while, as the natural consequence, drift¬ 
ing towards the shoals of insolvency, they should at 
least suspend their maledictions against the banks, 
until they learn whether the fault may not lie nearer 
home. It is one of the invariable contingencies of 
business, that the financial institutions of a country 
may be obliged abruptly to reduce their discount¬ 
line, and, to borrow a nautical phrase, shorten sail 
in every practicable way. The money and the com¬ 
merce, the husbandry and the politics, of the world, 
are so reticulated, that a failure of the crops in 
Turkey, or a civil revolution in Spain, might seriously 
affect the condition of every bank in Missouri or 
Iowa. A wise merchant will consider this in laying 
his plans, and beware of so entangling himself with 
banks that a change in their policy will subvert his 
foundations. The spirit of this observation is also 
applicable to the banks. Subordinate as they are to 


156 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


higher agencies in the trading and political world, it 
should be a point of morals with them, no less than a 
rule of practical wisdom, so to conduct their affairs 
as to reduce the amount of disturbance they may 
suffer from these extrinsic causes to the lowest possible 
degree. The very best quality in the working of a 
bank, next to inflexible honesty, is steadiness. If I 
may recur again to the sea for an illustration, when 
a vessel is in tempestuous weather, or traversing an 
intricate channel, one’s ear is saluted with the con¬ 
stant iteration of the cry to the helmsman, “ Steady!” 
“ Steady!” I know not that there is any word in 
the language which better deserves to be hung up in 
large capitals in our bank-parlours, than this homely 
Saxon dissyllable, “ Steady !” “ Steady !” The crew 
that can keep a financial ship steady through all the 
conflicting winds and currents of the business-world, 
is deserving of as much honour as the intrepid navi¬ 
gators who thread their way in safety through the 
ice-fields of the Northern circle. And, it may be 
added, the crew that do not aim at this, and strain 
every nerve to accomplish it, should be discharged 
on the first opportunity. 

I have not intended by any remarks which have 
been made, to exonerate banks from all responsibility 
in bringing about commercial panics. In too many 
instances they have had a leading part in producing 


USE AND ABUSE OF POWER. 


157 


these calamities. It may be unreasonable to require 
them to “regulate the trade” of a country, but they 
can abstain from a policy which will engender a spec¬ 
ulating mania, and tempt houses to be imprudent. 
Indeed, there is a question of morals, as well as a 
question of expediency, involved in the loaning of 
their funds, whether with or without reference to a 
crisis. They are neither to feed the fever of specu¬ 
lation by “ doing” the paper of firms already, as may 
be currently understood, beyond their depth in rash 
adventures; nor are they to abet dishonesty by sus¬ 
taining men w'ho have made a fortune by failing. 
Honourable men who have experienced misfortune, 
have a claim upon them. Nor is there among all 
their functions a single one more beneficent and 
praiseworthy, than that of assisting to set on their 
feet, individuals of tried integrity, whose disasters 
have only revealed to their creditors fresh grounds 
for respect and confidence. But they have no right 
to treat a swindler thus. A man who has notoriously 
defrauded his creditors, and is by common consent 
branded as a rogue, it is not their province to restore 
to his former standing. They might as well put their 
seal on a forged draft, and send it out as genuine. 
It matters not that the party concerned may tender 
them ample securities. Ilis paper is tainted; and if 
they touch it, the profits they make upon it, go into 


158 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

their vaults as the “ wages of unrighteousness.” They 
are not a mere money-making corporation. They are 
trustees. They have no more right to debauch the 
morals of the community, than they have to circulate 
counterfeit notes. And they are doing this whenever 
they employ their great powers to reinstate an un¬ 
principled man in the public confidence. 

The only qualification to he appended to this state¬ 
ment, is, that the principle shall not he extended to 
cases of merely alleged fraud. Almost every failure 
brings out a charge of fraud from some quarter. 
And a majority of failures certainly involve indis¬ 
cretions which cannot he deemed innocent. But 
these are usually treated with lenity, where a man 
bears himself frankly and ingenuously at the time of 
his catastrophe. Banks must beware how they allow 
themselves, in dealing with examples of this sort, to 
imbibe the resentments of creditors, and oppress firms 
which are trying to retrieve their former errors by a 
judicious and upright policy. It is one of the benign 
principles of the Divine government, “ He that con¬ 
fessed and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy.” We 
are bound to adopt it in our intercourse with one 
another. But neither individuals nor corporations 
can be required to countenance those who, having 
defrauded their neighbours once, give no evidence 
that they will not, should occasion offer, do it again. 


DEALING IN STOCKS. 


159 


The bank which violates this rule for the sake of 
securing an advantageous account, invades the rights 
of society, and tramples the moral code of the Bible 
in the dust. 

I have had repeated occasion to refer to Stocks. 
To preclude any misapprehension in what I am about 
to say further on this subject, I wish to observe, that 
as stocks have become one of the essential means of 
commercial and political progress, so they are as 
legitimate an article of traffic as any other com¬ 
modity. It is highly proper that there should be a 
distinct class of men devoted to this business. No¬ 
thing shall be uttered here in derogation of the re¬ 
spectability and utility of the profession as such. It 
comprises many gentlemen, in all our cities, of the 
highest standing for integrity. If it also embraces not 
a few individuals of equivocal honesty, this is no less 
the misfortune of other professions. Indiscriminate 
censures are always unjust. No profession is to be 
judged by its unworthy members, nor any usage by 
its abuses. But neither should the personal excel¬ 
lence of individuals, nor the honourable nature of 
their calling, prevent us from arraigning the abuses 
which may have crept in among them, and which 
they may be supposed to deplore equally with candid 
observers from without. It is, indeed, impossible to 
avoid this topic in the most cursory notice of a 


160 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


passion for speculation: for the stock-board is, more 
than any other point, the focus where this passion 
concentrates itself, and which has the chief agency 
in inflaming it. 

If this business were confined to bona fide stocks 
and bona fide investments, the moralist might have 
little ground of complaint. But this is not so. Many 
of the stocks which are bought and sold, have no real 
value, and are thus excluded from the sphere of hon¬ 
ourable commerce, which, as already observed, con¬ 
sists in “ the exchange of equivalents for mutual 
advantage.” What “exchange of equivalents” is 
there when you sell a man one of these “fancies” 
worth five dollars, for a hundred dollars ? Have you 
given him the worth of his money ? You will say, 
the man should know his own business, and if he 
chooses to buy a worthless article, it is no fault of 
yours. But have you a right to deal in “ worthless 
articles” — that is, have you a right to set an exor¬ 
bitant fictitious value upon them, and so put them off 
upon your neighbours, who, as you know, can make 
no use of them, and, to recover their outlay, must 
treat some one else as you have treated them ? You 
will meet this by saying, that transactions of this 
kind are perfectly understood: no one is deceived 
by them: the stocks are neither sold nor bought for 
investments; they are not even transferred: the whole 


CONTRACTS ON TIME. 


161 


object with both parties is to make a profit on them. 
If you add, these contracts are usually on time , we 
shall have the whole case before us. And a very bad 
case it is. 

For, in the first place, you are trafficking in a 
mere fiction. As this class of transactions is com¬ 
monly managed, the scrip would answer your purpose 
just as well if it ostensibly represented so many lots 
at the North Pole or in the moon. It is no part of 
your real object to sell the stock at all, nor of the 
buyer’s to purchase it. You do not, probably, own 
it: and he does not want it. And at the stipulated 
period for consummating the transaction, you will 
part with no stock, and he will receive none. You 
sell your neighbour, for example, 100 shares of some 
fancy stock, deliverable in thirty days, for $11,000. 
When the day arrives, you may be able to purchase 
the requisite amount of scrip for $10,000. Or, the 
market having advanced during the month, it may 
cost you $11,500. The other party does not want 
the scrip, and you never meant to buy it. All 
you were aiming at, was, the “differences.” So 
the operation is closed, in the former case, by his 
handing you his check for a thousand dollars, and in 
the latter, by your handing him your check for five 
hundred dollars — the market-price on the day of 
settlement regulating the balances. This is substan- 
14* 


162 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

tially the nature of these transactions: with their 
endless modifications we are not concerned. The 
briefest possible glance at the thing will show that 
this is not commerce, but gambling — sheer , down¬ 
right, unmitigated Gambling. If you sell a cargo 
of flour or of cotton, a case of merchandize or a 
dwelling-house, deliverable at the end of a month, 
you expect, as a matter of course, to transfer the 
property, and the other party expects to receive it 
and pay the money. This is legitimate commerce. 
There are responsible parties, a contract, and an 
actual exchange of equivalents. In the other case, 
the parties may be responsible men, or irresponsible. 
Any individual who is able to get together a few 
hundred dollars (if even this is necessary), can operate 
in these gambling stocks on a large scale. All he 
requires is cash or credit enough to meet the amount 
of his bet , in the event of his losing. For, stripped 
of its technicalities, this selling “ on time” is simply 
a wager that the stock in question will be worth a 
certain sum on a specified day. The principle is 
identically the same with betting on a battle or a 
horse-race. So the laws of England and those of 
some of our own States regard it. In England, a 
penalty of ,£500 is laid upon every person who makes 
a “ time-bargain,” and the same penalty upon every 
one contracting for the sale of stock of which he is 


GAMBLING IN STOCKS. 


163 


not possessed at the date of the contract. In Penn¬ 
sylvania, all sales of stocks to he delivered more than 
five days after the contract, are prohibited, under a 
penalty of from one hundred to a thousand dollars; 
and the amount of the “ differences” paid under any 
such contract, with an additional penalty of twenty 
per cent, on the said payment, may be recovered at 
law by the losing party, his heirs or assigns. In New 
York, the statute prohibits all contracts for the sale 
of stocks, and declares them absolutely void, unless 
the party contracting to sell or transfer the same, 
shall, at the making of such contract, be in the actual 
possession of the certificates thereof, or otherwise en¬ 
titled in his own right, or acting for others so entitled, 
to sell or transfer the same. It also prohibits and 
declares void all wagers concerning the present or 
future price of stocks, and provides that money paid 
or goods delivered by way of premium or difference, 
in pursuance of contracts or wagers so made, may be 
recovered back from the party receiving the same 
and his personal representatives. — It is quite imma¬ 
terial to our purpose, whether these laws are enforced 
or not. Enough that this sort of traffic is pronounced 
by the public authorities of different countries, to be 
an immorality. Like other kinds of gambling, it 
requires but little capital, and holds out great entice¬ 
ments to mere adventurers and fortune-hunters. The 


164 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

most honourable men may amass a sudden fortune by 
dealing in stocks. There is no reason why they should 
not employ their sagacity, experience, and capital, in 
watching for favourable investments and opportune 
transfers, in the Funds — provided only they shun 
contracts on time, and do a real, not a fictitious, 
business. But it is a great social evil that speculators 
who have neither means nor moral principle, should, 
by a few reckless wagers at the stock-board, roll up 
a princely estate, and then use it to dazzle the town 
with their extravagance. These examples are adapted 
to have a pernicious influence upon the tribes of 
young men who are engaged in mercantile and manu¬ 
facturing occupations. They are apt to enkindle in 
the minds of clerks a disgust at the tedious processes 
of commerce, and to allure them from the solid paths 
of industry into the treacherous realm of speculation. 
Many of them venture upon this without counting the 
cost, and end by robbing their employers and blasting 
their own characters. Scarcely a year passes that 
does not bring to light some melancholy instances of 
this kind; and there are doubtless very many others 
which are never revealed to the public. 

The W'hole evil has not been stated. It results from 
the nature of these transactions, that where any great 
amounts are pending, the market will not be left to 
the control of natural or legitimate causes. It is the 


VICE MADE REPUTABLE. 


165 


interest of one party to enhance, and of the other to 
depress, it. Each, therefore, will employ all available 
agencies to accomplish his own end. Reports favour¬ 
able or prejudicial to the stock ; false rumours about 
public affairs; “ money-articles” in venal newspapers; 
combinations and counter - combinations among the 
dealers; these are familiar implements in carrying 
forward the contests of the stock-exchange. What¬ 
ever generalship the operators may have, is sure to 
be put in requisition. No other form of gambling 
opens a wider field for strategy and deception, or one 
which is more thoroughly cultivated. To say that 
the necessary effect must be to sear their feelings and 
debauch their principles, is only to repeat what may 
be heard every day in the street. But the mischief 
is not confined to themselves. Such a system as this, 
is like a cancer at the heart of a community. Very 
many are drawn in and actually infected with the 
poison. Then, again, the enormity of the practice is 
lost sight of in the numbers and the respectability 
of the parties who countenance it. It goes to diffuse 
lax notions of moral obligation; to elevate craft and 
cunning to a level with integrity; to inspire the feel¬ 
ing that success will sanctify fraud; and to stimulate 
still more the predominant passion for speedy accu¬ 
mulation. This is not conjecture, but history. The 
public sentiment in all our great cities is so vitiated 


166 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

on this subject, that there is very little hope of cor¬ 
recting it. “ Gambling in stocks” is as current a 
phrase, as gambling at cards or at billiards. But the 
public sentiment tolerates and shelters it. It even 
lavishes its respect and its honours upon the men who 
win the most bets and carry off the largest stakes. 
The moralist who ventures to point the maledictions 
of the decalogue against the system, is viewed as a 
well-meaning, hut simple, man, who might as well 
spare his strength, or apply it to the removal of some 
more tractable evil. And neither the remonstrances 
of the pulpit, nor the frequent disasters which over¬ 
whelm men engaged in these pursuits, and leave them 
with blasted fortunes and characters and with ruined 
families, have hitherto sufficed to arouse the commu¬ 
nity to the demoralizing tendencies of this traffic. 
This is the more ominous, because there seems to be 
no theoretical difference of opinion on the subject. 
All persons not engaged in these speculative schemes, 
concur in branding them as immoral in their very 
principle. If the immorality lay in the adjuncts or 
incidents, the antidote would be, reformation. But 
it lies in the essence of the thing, and the only effec¬ 
tual remedy, therefore, is excision. 

Every consideration of virtue and of social pros¬ 
perity demands that the traffic in stocks should bo 
regulated by the same general rules which govern the 



FICTITIOUS MERCHANDIZE. 


167 


other branches of commerce. Why siiould it not he ? 
What is there in the nature of the commodity itself 
which is bought and sold, or in its relations to the 
public interest, to entitle this traffic to an exemption 
from the established laws of trade? Yet such an 
exemption is conceded to it. Let an association of 
merchants attempt to introduce the usages of the stock- 
exchange into the business of Market street or Pearl 
street — to buy and sell “ on time” worthless or ficti¬ 
tious fabrics — fabrics of which there was not, and 
never would be, a piece in their stores — for dealing 
in which neither clerks, nor porters, nor packing 
boxes, would be required — and which would only 
pass from hand to hand in a supposititious transfer, 
by the payment of “ differences” on the prescribed 
day of delivery. Is there a city in the Union that 
would tolerate such a bare-faced system of gambling 
for a single month? Would there not be a universal 
burst of indignation, at the audacity and profligacy 
of the thing ? Yet wherein would it differ from that 
class of transactions in stocks on which I am animad¬ 
verting? The commodities are unlike, but that is 
all. The principle is the same. And the question 
for merchants and financiers to settle, is, why a prac¬ 
tice should be openly fostered and encouraged in one 
department of commerce, which would be hooted from 
any other department of commerce as a disreputable 


168 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

immorality ? This question derives increased signifi- 
cancy from the fact, already noted, that the true 
character of the practice is not denied. All men 
(those interested excepted) agree in pronouncing it, 
not only a violation of the Scripture code of morals, 
but a huge fountain of social corruption. Why, then, 
is it not suppressed ? Why do not the large and in¬ 
fluential body of upright men belonging to that pro¬ 
fession, wipe off this stain from their escutcheon, and 
bring back at least the official business of the stock- 
board to its legitimate channels? Private transac¬ 
tions they cannot control, although by a moral influ¬ 
ence they might reach even these. But their inability 
to prevent private gambling, does not absolve them 
from the obligation to discountenance, and, if possible, 
abolish, public gambling. If they have not the cour¬ 
age to attempt this, the officers of the law should 
supply their lack of service. And if these are dis¬ 
posed to wink at the evil, measures should be adopted 
to form a more healthful public sentiment, which 
might suppress this iniquity, and protect society from 
its multifarious mischiefs. 

In dismissing this subject, I must once more dis¬ 
claim any intention to impugn the ordinary traffic in 
public and corporate securities. The stock-broker is 
as indispensable as the merchant, and his legitimate 
business every way as respectable and useful. I will 



DANGERS OF COVETOUSNESS. 


169 


not say that there are no evils to be corrected within 
the sphere where his business lies, and to which, if 
he is a true man, he confines himself. Hut I have 
not chosen to speak of them in this Lecture. Every 
word of censure I have uttered, has had respect to a 
system which is beyond the pale of lawful commerce, 
the opprobrium of the stock-exchange, and a plague- 
spot upon the face of society. 

Logical exactness might demand, in deference to 
the main design of this Lecture, some further notice 
of stock-jobbing in its connection with periods of 
excessive speculation. But the length* of this discus¬ 
sion admonishes me to close — which I do by remind¬ 
ing you of a saying of our Lord’s, which is extremely 
apposite to our own age and country. The motive 
power which propels the vast machinery of commerce, 
its iniquitous no less than its beneficent agencies, is 
the desire of wealth. This desire takes its moral hue 
from its motives and its implements. Its perpetual 
tendency is to excess; and we cannot, therefore, 
ponder too often or too seriously the admonition, 
“ Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a 
man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things which he possesseth.” You may accomplish 
all that you have set your hearts upon, and compass 
the utmost limits of accumulation with which your 
15 


170 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


fancy has loved to decorate your future conse i /©nee, 
and still be without any solid happiness. Nay, the 
more you surrender yourselves to the mastery of this 
passion, the more certain are you to miss Ine true 
enjoyment of life. Nor is this all. Amidst tVe cares 
and aspirations of your Counting-rooms, there is a 
process going on w T hich involves your profoundest 
interests. Business may thrive or languish, success 
or disappointment may attend your plans, wealth or 
poverty may be standing at your doors — it is all one 
as to your future destiny. Every hour is bearing 
you on towards the judgment-seat of Christ; every 
transaction in which you engage, every calamity that 
sweeps over you, every auspicious venture that helps 
to fill your coffers, is helping to mould your charac¬ 
ters for endless blessedness or eternal wo. Whether 
you are oppressed by the. leaden stagnation of trade, 
or elated by the ensigns of a luxuriant prosperity, 
there is one interest that never droops, one mighty 
Trafficker whose work never intermits. Invisible to 
mortal eyes, he is gliding about among you, alike 
active and unsparing in your seasons of depression, 
and in the palmiest days of your commercial triumph. 
While he keeps at a distance, you heed him not: he 
may mow down his victims by thousands without dis¬ 
turbing your composure. But sometimes he crosses 
your path so near you — he strikes dowm a partner, 


A SUMMONS FROM ETERNITY. 


171 


a neighbour, a friend, so dear to your heart or so 
closely affiliated with you in business, that you are 
startled: you feel like one who sees the ground torn 
up at his feet by a thunderbolt. For the time, you 
feel that life’s misnamed realities are airy nothings. 
You are ready to exclaim, w T ith the great British 
statesman, “ What shadows we are ! What shadows 
wO^ursue !” But ho ay transient, too often, are these 
^impressions! You miss that familiar form in your 
walks, but the.crowd closes in, and, after a few days 
fills up the void produced by his removal; and though 
he may net be at otoce forgotten, the solemn and 
tender reflecflbns awakened by his death, ar§ soon 
merged ih-the absorbing secularities of your profes¬ 
sion. — Is this to act as becomes your rational 
nature ? Can you appeal, in its vindication, to 
those maxims of prudence Avhich govern you in 
your ' business - arrangements. While you are con¬ 
triving how you may increase your property, you 
may be summoned to that world Avhere all the gold 
that was ever mined, could not purchase a drop of 
water to cool your parched tongues. While you are 
hanging with suspense upon the mails and the tele¬ 
graph, for intelligence which is to consummate or 
blast your earthly hopes, the voice of God may 
fall upon your ear, “ This night thy soul shall be 
required of thee ! ” — I speak as to wise men. 


172 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


You need a portion which is satisfying and inalien¬ 
able; which neither life with its temptations, nor 
death with its disruption of all mortal ties, can take 
from you. Such a portion is to be found only in 
the Gospel of Christ. 

“ This is the field where hidden lies 
The pearl of price unknown; 

That merchant is divinely wise, 

Who makes the pearl his own." 

To secure it, is to have God for your Father, Christ 
for your Saviour, and heaven for your heritage. To 
neglect it, is to peril your everlasting feKeity on the 
uncertainties of every fleeting hour.* Yield, * while 
you may, to the strivings of the Spirit, and accept 
the proffered mercy: for “ the redemption of the soul 
is precious, and it ceaseth for ever!” 



LUXURIES. 


173 


Union Haiti. 

BANKRUPTCY. 

There is one invariable feature of a speculating 
era, which, though alluded to in previous Lectures, 
has not been set forth as its importance demands — 
I mean, luxury and extravagance. These are terms 
of variable import, and it is not always practicable 
to use them without the hazard of being misunder¬ 
stood. Nor is it the easiest thing in the world for a 
Christian teacher to expound the utterances of the 
Bible on this subject, in a way which shall meet 
satisfactorily the exigencies of every case that may 
demand a solution. To say, for example, that the 
Bible prohibits all indulgence in luxuries, would be 
taking very ambiguous and very dangerous ground— 
ambiguous, because the term “ luxuries” is of apoc¬ 
ryphal and mutable signification; and dangerous, 
because, rigidly carried out, this rule might take the 
bread out of some millions of mouths. To our ances¬ 
tors at different periods, most of the articles which 
15 * 


174 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

we reckon among the indispensable conveniences, if 
not the necessaries of life, would have been luxuries 
— our houses, food, clothing, equipages, and the like. 
Down to the fourteenth century, houses were built 
without chimneys. Glazed windows were so rare in 
England, that so late as 1567 the glass casements at 
Alnwick Castle were taken down in the absence of 
the family, to guard them from accident. It is re¬ 
corded as a special proof of the munificence of the 
pompous Thomas a Becket, when Lord Chancellor 
(a. D. 1154), that “he caused his servants to cover 
the floor of his dining-room with clean straw or hay 
every morning in winter, and green branches of trees 
in summer, that those guests who could not find room 
to sit at table, might sit on the ground without spoil¬ 
ing their fine clothes.” The first watches were made 
in the fourteenth century. Linen and cotton and 
silk were luxuries among the Homans: and the fami¬ 
lies of tradesmen are now more finely attired than 
were the wives and daughters of the Caesars.—And 
the thing that has been, is that which shall be. 
Many of our luxuries will in turn become common¬ 
place comforts. 

The term, too, has another relative meaning of 
more practical importance than this. The station 
and circumstances of individuals must be taken into 
the account. That may be a luxury, certainly an 


THE QUESTION OF LABOUR. 


175 


extravagance, to one family, which is not to another. 
It is not for a censor of morals to denounce every 
private picture-gallery, or every elegant mansion, as 
an extravagance, because these possessions are beyond 
the reach of most persons: “ for why is my liberty 
judged of another man’s conscience ?” It is neither 
argument nor apology, to say, “ My neighbour has 
done thus; therefore, I may do it.” Where there is 
an element of right and wrong, questions cannot be 
settled in this way. There is another standard, “ the 
law and the testimony.” 

In another view, the absolute prohibition of luxu¬ 
ries might have a most disastrous influence upon the 
well-being of mankind. The question of labour, it is 
often said, is the great question of this age. What 
shall be done with the masses ? How employ them ? 
How remunerate them ? How elevate them ? Idle¬ 
ness has always been fatal to them. And if they 
were restricted to the production of the mere conve¬ 
niences of life, whether by agriculture or the mechanic 
arts, the great body of them would soon have to 
abandon their occupations, and either go into alms¬ 
houses or betake themselves to hunting and fishing 
for a livelihood. Nothing is more certain than that 
the traffic in articles of taste and fancy, is one of the 
chief sources of support to the working population of 
the globe. How many deserving families would suffer 


176 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

by a sumptuary law forbidding the citizens of this 
country to use coaches, or gold "watches, or books in 
costly binding; or by a statute like that of England 
in 1337, restricting even the wealthy to two courses 
at a meal and two dishes to a course; or like one in 
Ireland a century later, prohibiting gilt bridles and 
harness, under pain of confiscation. That cannot be 
a Scripture code of ethics which would turn thousands 
of industrious artisans adrift upon the world without 
occupation. Nor could society sustain itself under 
such a regimen. Its means of wealth and progress 
would be seriously abridged, and a general decline 
would ensue, no less in its intellectual and moral, 
than in its material interests. 

The evil, however, is, that these principles are 
grossly abused and perverted in seasons of specula¬ 
tion. The money which is hurriedly made, is waste- 
fully expended. The contest for gain in the arena 
of business, is carried forward as a race for ostenta¬ 
tion in social life. Profusion becomes the order of 
the day with those who can, and those who cannot 
afford it. Luxury is made, not the exception, but 
the rule. Houses vieing with palaces in splendor, a 
style of dress suited to a Court, entertainments which 
would not discredit an imperial “ Reception,” day 
turned into night and night into day, artificial man¬ 
ners, artificial characters, and the endless trumpery 


SHOW AND SUBSTANCE. 


177 


which goes to make up a life of fashionable dissipa¬ 
tion, — such are the familiar concomitants of one of 
these periods of commercial inflation. The entire 
social structure assumes by degrees a type correspon¬ 
ding with the prevailing idolatry of Mammon. The 
current talk is of money and fortunes. The flow of 
adulation is in the channels money has dug, and to¬ 
ward the points where new-made wealth holds its 
levees. People are gauged, not by their worth, but 
by what they are worth ;* or rather by what they 
seem to be worth. For these are times of show more 
than of substance. It is one of the foolish and un¬ 
warrantable expedients for maintaining credit, to keep 
up an expensive domestic establishment; and you 
know not from any outward symbols, whether such 
an establishment is an evidence of wealth, or simply 
a device to preserve the appearance of wealth. We 
will put the most charitable construction, however, 
on all that meets the eye, and assume that the exam¬ 
ples around us are those of men who have really 
amassed great riches by a brief career of earnest and 
daring speculation. Let us trace them a step or two 
further. 

It is apparent (to repeat a thought already ex- 


For what in worth is anything 

But so much money as Twill bring.”—B utler, 



178 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


pressed), that they have lost the advantages which 
are hound up in a business-fo/e. They have reached 
the goal, hut by a side-road. Their hopes are turned 
into golden fruition ; but they have missed that per¬ 
sonal training which would have outweighed all their 
gold. 

“ What men most covet, wealth, distinction, power, 

Are baubles nothing worth, that only serve 
To rouse us up as children in the schools 
Are roused up to exertion. The reward 
Is in the race we run, not in the prize ; 

And they, the few that have it ere they earn it, 

Know not, nor ever can, the generous pride 
That glows in him who on himself relies, 

Entering the lists of life.” 

The parties we are contemplating, are most happy to 
relinquish these advantages to others. The road to 
fortune by which they have travelled, has conducted 
them to the rewards of business without its cares 
and anxieties. Their garners are filled, without the 
trouble of sowing and reaping. What remains but 
to address themselves to the duties of their new posi¬ 
tion, and to enjoy the fruits of their good fortune ? 

One of the visions which flitted before them in their 
days of speculation, was a well-stocked Library. The 
vision is realized. There is the library, very rich and 
very beautiful — books, cases, lounges, pictures, all 


THE LIBRARY. 


179 


arranged with skill and splendour. One thing only 
is wanting — a taste for reading. They wonder that 
the great lights of literature should be so very dull. 
They pass from History to Philosophy, from Philoso¬ 
phy to Biography, and then to Politics, Travels, Di¬ 
vinity, Romance, Painting, but “ ’tis all barren.” 
Paradise Lost is nothing to the “ money article” in 
the morning paper.—Literature is taking its revenge. 
They discarded her for years, and now she discards 
them. They surrendered themselves to one passion. 
The chief end of man, in their creed, was to get rich. 
And they talked and planned and dreamed of money, 
until the world was, to them, nothing but a great 
money-shop. They won the race, but came out of it 
altered men. “ Can a man take fire in his bosom, 
and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon 
hot coals, and his feet not be burned ?” Neither can 
a man sell himself to avarice, without having every 
refined and generous sentiment of his nature weakened 
by it. They may have the library; but it will be to 
them very much what the great libraries of the Dark 
Ages were to the monks who kept the keys of them.* 

* Some other persons have bought literature “ by measure,” 
besides the English steward who wrote to a bookseller in Lon¬ 
don, for books to complete his master’s library, in the follow¬ 
ing terms: — “In the first place, I want six feet of Theology, 
the same quantity of Metaphysics, and near a yard of old 
Civil Law, in folio.” 



180 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Another of their visions was a quiet and elegant 
Home , with ample leisure for the training of their 
children and the fruition of domestic comfort. During 
their few years of business, their houses have been to 
them rather like taverns, where they have taken their 
meals and lodgings, than their homes. When osten¬ 
sibly there, it has been their physical presence merely, 
their thoughts have been on ’Change or at the Board 
of Brokers, with a cotton speculation at Liverpool, 
or a land speculation in Illinois, or a flour speculation 
at San Francisco. As to educating their children, 
they have indeed transferred them to a larger house, 
and thrown around them the glare of luxury; but 
the whole responsibility of forming their principles 
has been left to other hands. This hard necessity 
has now passed away, and they will hasten back 
(so they think) to their firesides as a bird to its nest. 

But home, somehow, is not what they expected to 
find it. They dispensed with it so long, that it ceased 
to be essential to them. The master-passion which 
consumed their early literary tastes, made sad inroads 
upon their domestic affections. They learn, to their 
surprise, that going abroad, which has ceased to be 
a necessity, has become a matter of choice, and that 
the financiers and traffickers of the town, are better 
company than that around their own hearth. 

Their children they can instruct in the mysteries 


UNCONSCIOUS TEACHING. 


181 


of trade and finance, in the most lucrative kinds of 
traffic and the best investments; but they would be 
at some loss how to imbue them with enlarged views 
of their relations and duties, and to inspire them with 
those pure principles and exalted aims which are 
alone worthy of an intelligent and accountable race 
of creatures. In one aspect, they may have done 
more to educate them than they were aware of. A 
family of children accustomed to hear money made 
the standing theme of conversation, the gauge and 
measure of all other values, will be likely either' to 
inherit the father’s covetousness, or to plunge into 
the vortex of fashionable frivolity. And in the latter 
case, he may find it as hopeless to bring them back 
to the simple tastes and habits which preceded his 
first successful speculation, as he would to reduce a 
forest of giant oaks to a nursery. 

Another duty which has been all along assigned to 
this golden era, is, preparation for death and eter¬ 
nity. But the same incapacity or indisposition waits 
upon them in this office as in the others. They dis¬ 
cover that there are other obstacles between their 
souls and heaven, than “the claims of business.” 
They have “made haste to be rich,” and they must 
bear the consequences. A career of speculation has 
a peculiar tendency to make men both selfish and 
proud, not to speak of its searing the conscience and 
16 


182 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


multiplying the cords which hind them to the world. 
And where covetousness and inordinate self-esteem 
join together in taking possession of a man, he is 
about as well fortified against religion as any charac¬ 
ter to be met with in society. “ With God all things 
are possible,” and such men are sometimes changed 
into humble and liberal Christians. But it is, unhap¬ 
pily, no fancy sketch which the poet has drawn of 
gold and its worshippers, who 

-“ on its altar sacrificed ease, peace, 

.Truth, faith, integrity; good conscience, friends. 

Love, charity, benevolence, and all 
The sweet and tender sympathies of life; 

And, to complete the horrid, murderous rite, 

And signalize their folly, offered up 
Their souls and an eternity of bliss, 

To gain them — what? an hour of dreaming joy, 

A feverish hour, that hasted to be done 
And ended in the bitterness of wo.” 

The best side of this picture is not very promising. 
If such are the common issues of a career of success¬ 
ful speculation, what are its opposite issues? It 
would be useless to portray in its details the collapse 
which usually follows one of these eras of commercial 
bewilderment; but this seems a proper place to make 
a few observations on the general subject of mercan¬ 
tile EMBARRASSMENTS AND BANKRUPTCIES. 

Nearly twenty years ago an aged gentleman of 


LIABILITY TO FAILURE. 


183 


large experience in business, said to me, “ Almost 
every merchant fails.” The remark startled me; 
and he immediately repeated it, with emphasis: 
“ Almost every merchant fails once.” Most persons 
might be disposed to qualify it. And yet there are 
some very striking statistics published on the subject. 
The testimony of the late General Dearborn, who was 
for twenty years Collector of the Port of Boston, 
must be familiar to most merchants. In the course 
of an agricultural address delivered in 1840, he said— 
“ After an extensive acquaintance with business men, 
and having long been an attentive observer of the 
course of events in the mercantile community, I am 
satisfied that among one hundred merchants and 
traders in this city (Boston), not more than three 
ever acquired an independence. It was with great 
distrust that I came to this conclusion; but, after 
consulting with an experienced merchant he fully 
admitted its truth.” 

The following communication subsequently ap¬ 
peared in the “Farmer’s Library:”— 

“ The statement made by General Dearborn appeared to 
me so startling, so appalling, that I was induced to examine 
it with much care, and, I regret to say, I found it true. I 
then called upon a friend, a great antiquarian, a gentleman 
always referred to in all matters relating to the city of Boston, 
and he told me that in the year 1800 , he took a memorandum 


184 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


of every person on Long Wharf, and that in 1840 — which is 
as long as a merchant continues in business — only five in 
one hundred remained. They had all, in that time, failed, 
or died destitute of property. I then went to a very intelligent 
director of the Union Bank, a very strong bank. He told me 
that the bank commenced business in 1798; that there was 
then but one other bank in Boston, the Massachusetts Bank, 
and that the bank was so overrun with business that the clerks 
and officers were obliged to work until twelve o’clock at night 
and all Sundays: that they had occasion to look back, a year 
or two ago, and they found, that of the one thousand accounts 
which were opened with them in starting, only six remained: 
they had, in the forty years, either failed or died destitute of 
property. Houses whose paper had passed without a ques¬ 
tion, had all gone in that time. ‘ Bankruptcy,’ said he, * is 
like death, and almost as certain; they fall single and alone, 
and are thus forgotten : but there is no escape from it, and 
he is a fortunate man who fails young. 7 

“ Another friend told me that he had occasion to look 
through the Probate Office a few years since, and he was 
surprised to find that over ninety per cent, of all the estates 
settled there were insolvent. And within a few days, I 
have gone back to the incorporation of our banks in Boston. 
I have a list of the directors since they started. This is, 
however, a very unfair way of testing the rule, for bank- 
directors are the most substantial men in the community. 
In the old bank, over one-third had failed in forty years, 
and in the new bank, a much larger proportion.” 

Allowing that these facts represent even approxi¬ 
mately the general course of things in our great cities, 


MORAL TESTS OF BANKRUPTCY. 


185 


there is matter in them for serious consideration on 
the part of young men who are about selecting their 
occupation for life. Those who have inherited an 
ample patrimony especially, may well ponder them; 
for it has come to be an axiom, that if a young man 
of fortune goes into business, he will fail of course. 
Our present concern, however, is with the moral, not 
the economical, aspects of this subject. And on this 
point, it is proper to observe that there are many 
failures which involve no dereliction of principle, and 
leave no stain upon the character. The most upright 
men sometimes fail. Men of tried prudence and of 
great experience fail. Although no man of proper 
sensibility can fail without feeling deeply concerned 
on account of the losses others may suffer by him, 
the circumstances of the disaster may be such as to 
remove all ground for self-reproach. 

But, on the other hand, we must except from this 
category, bankruptcies brought about by causes like 
those we have been dwelling upon in this and the 
previous Lectures. A merchant who would recognize 
the authority of the Bible in his Counting-House, 
must consider carefully the proper tendencies of his 
measures. Habits and usages which have usually led 
to bankruptcy , have a taint of immorality. There is 
a line beyond which firms have no moral right to 
16 * 


186 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

extend their business. It may not always be easy 
to adjust this line, but no house will get far beyond 
it without some misgivings; and when these begin, 
they had better retrace their steps. Failures may be 
brought about by sheer neglect and self-indulgence. 
A prosperous trader may grow weary of the routine 
of his warehouse. His clerks are competent and 
faithful: there is no necessity for confining himself 
as closely now as he did for the first year or two of 
his business: why should he not devote a portion of 
every pleasant day to sporting, or driving out, or 
some other recreation ? He tries it — and fails. Is 
there no delinquency here ? The case is still stronger 
with the insolvencies occasioned by rash speculations 
and domestic extravagance. A late eminent jurist 
of our city has expressed himself on this point in 
terms of eloquent indignation. “Money so easily 
got is as lightly spent, and brings us to another dark 
and deep stain on our commercial reputation. The 
proud splendour, the reckless extravagance, the bound¬ 
less luxury, in which these ephemeral princes indulge 
themselves, is shockingly immoral, when, at the con¬ 
clusion of the pageant, it appears that it was got up 
at the expense, perhaps on the ruin, of their creditors. 
Magnificent mansions in town and country, gorgeous 
furniture, shining equipages, costly entertainments at 
■which five hundred or a thousand dollars are squan- 


I 

TESTIMONY OF JUDGE HOPKINSON. 187 

dered in an evening; in short, a style of living, an 
exuberance of expenditure, -which would be unwise in 
our country with any amount of fortune, and is abso¬ 
lutely criminal in the actual circumstances of the 
spendthrift. When the blow falls that prostrates this 
grandeur, what efforts are made upon the good-nature 
of the creditors, to retain as much as possible of these 
gaudy trappings for the family, instead of casting 
them away as the badges and testimonies of decep¬ 
tion and dishonour! Little sympathy is shown for 
the injuries and losses of those who have fed with 
their substance the bloated folly of the delinquent; 
little regard to public opinion is manifested by him, 
and scarcely a sense of decorum or shame : but every 
thing is hurried to a conclusion, that he may resume 
what he calls his business, be trusted, and — betray 
again.” * 

It needs to be more deeply impressed upon the 
conscience of the commercial world, that improvidence 
in contracting debts, especially where this is associ¬ 
ated with speculations and luxurious living, is itself 
a palpable violation of the law of God. And the 
question, whether a failure involves immorality, will 
admit of a speedy solution, if it can be shown that 
this was the cause of it. The statistics on this point 


* The Hon. Joseph Hopkinson. 



188 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

relating to our last commercial crisis, are frightful — 
as will be seen by the following table : — 

Number of applicants for relief under the gen¬ 


eral Bankrupt law, 1841. 33,739 

Number of creditors returned. 1,049,603 

Amount of debts stated.. $440,934,615 

Valuation of property surrendered. $43,697,307 


According to these returns, a capital of forty-three 
millions was made to sustain an indebtedness of four 
hundred and forty millions! And the real facts were 
much worse. The dividends actually paid were, in 
the Southern District of New York, one cent on the 
dollar; in the Northern District, thirteen and one- 
third cents ; in Connecticut, a half cent; in Missis¬ 
sippi, six cents to one thousand dollars; in Maine, a 
half cent, in Michigan and Iowa, a quarter cent, in 
New Jersey, four cents, to the hundred dollars — and 
so on, throughout the Union. These figures are 
pregnant with meaning. And they concern the mor¬ 
alist, no less than statesmen and legislators. They 
display, as in a mirror, the reckless mania for specu¬ 
lation and prodigality, which brought about the crash 
of ’37. Four hundred millions of dollars swallowed 
up, and nothing to show for it! Nothing? Alas, 
there was too much to show for it. A paralyzed 
commerce — stagnation in all the marts of business — 






A NATION DEBAUCHED BY SPECULATION. 189 


thousands of families ruined — comfort and opulence 
succeeded by penury and suffering — wrecks of for¬ 
tunes and, far worse, wrecks of character, strewn all 
over the land — faithlessness, dishonesty, treachery, 
in every direction — crime enough to blast a nation 
for this world and ruin them for the next: these 
were the avails of that four hundred millions wasted 
in riotous and wicked speculation. I mean what I 
say — “wicked speculation.” It was wicked, inex¬ 
cusably, flagrantly wicked. And its criminality is 
not extenuated by the fact that through the favour 
of a benign Providence, the recuperative energy of the 
country has in a measure retrieved our pecuniary 
losses. The most revolting features of that period 
are ineradicable. History has engraved them upon 
her tablets, and will hand them down to all coming 
generations, as an illustration of the profound moral 
debasement to which an unbridled passion for wealth 
will reduce even the most powerful and prosperous 
nation. 

It has been aptly observed, that “ directly above 
the great cataract of insolvency, lie most dangerous 
rapids.” A boatman whose shallop has been draw r n 
into the whirling tide above Niagara, would supply 
no inapposite exemplar of an embarrassed merchant 
sweeping on towards the final catastrophe. Those 
who have seen and shuddered over the spectacle, tell 


190 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


us that the struggles of a waterman caught in the 
“ Rapids, ” the superhuman energy with which he 
tugs at his oars, the spasmodic grasp with which he 
snatches at every projecting rock, the frenzy with 
which he flies from one end of his frail skiff to the 
other, and the commingled horror and despair de¬ 
picted in his countenance, as the remorseless waves 
hurry him on to the verge of the cataract, constitute 
a scene which neither pen nor pencil could delineate. 
You have its archetype among you, too often pre¬ 
sented amidst the fluctuations of commerce not to he 
familiar to every merchant. For who has not seen 
the corresponding process enacted over and over again 
in the walks of trade — an embarrassed house striving 
to elude the demon of bankruptcy, which is hovering 
over them, 

“ Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell.” 

With what anxiety and desperation do they labour to 
stave -off the impending calamity, which they see, and 
yet will not see. What a rallying of their resources ! 
What skilful and rapid transmutations of their pre¬ 
carious credit into successive shapes, adjusted to fresh 
exigencies ! New purchases and forced sales — usu¬ 
rious loans — notes offered at untried banks — fresh 
drafts upon neighbouring houses — proceeds which 
should have been remitted to their principals, applied 


THE DEATH-STRUGGLE. 


191 


to cancel paper — one piece of property after another 
sacrificed — urgent appeals to private friends for suc¬ 
cour — money raised on borrowed securities — and all 
this while, appearances kept up — mind and body on 
the rack — candour giving way to concealment — in¬ 
tegrity breaking down — earnest and unsuccessful 
efforts to regard wrong actions as right, and to be¬ 
lieve there is no real danger — conscience reclaiming 
— the whole character deteriorating — and the house 
driving on toward the abyss, until, at length, 

-“ all unawares, 

Fluttering their pennons vain, plumb down they drop 

Ten thousand fathom deep.” 

This is no picture of the imagination. There is not 
a large city in Europe or America where it has not 
been realized in all its fulness, too often to attract 
attention any longer by its novelty. All failures are 
not of this kind, but so many are — this is so much 
the usual course of things — that every merchant 
ought to make up his mind as to its policy and its 
morality. Viewing it from the stand-point we now 
occupy, and testing it by the morality of the Bible, 
there can be but one estimate formed of it. Its rash¬ 
ness, its folly, its (must I say it ?) immorality, must 
be known and read of all men. We may sympathize 
with men who are brought into these most trying cir¬ 
cumstances ; we may honour their deep solicitude to 


192 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

save themselves and their creditors: but we cannot, 
as Scripture casuists, nor even as upright men, com¬ 
mend the course they have pursued. The universal 
feeling will he, that they ought to have stopped 
sooner. They should not have shut their eyes to 
their real condition. However painful the conviction, 
they ought to have yielded to it, that their resources 
were inadequate to carry them through the storm, 
and that it would be far better to succumb at once 
than to consume their remaining assets in -waging so 
hopeless a contest. These assets, they should have 
remembered, were not theirs. They belonged to 
their creditors. And it was a double wrong, not 
only to withhold from them what they had already 
in hand, but to procure of them or of others, fresh 
loans to be absorbed in paying olf third parties. 
There can be few things in mercantile experience 
more vexatious, than to find that the paper your 
neighbour obtained from you, was used by him, as he 
was about breaking, to liquidate the claim of some 
other house; or to see the iron or the produce you 
sold him on credit last week, on the eve of his bank¬ 
ruptcy, stored away in the lofts of another firm, who 
were as clamorous in demanding their money, as you 
were generous in lending yours. It is too much to 
expect that transactions of this kind should be borne 
with equanimity. They are of a class of provocations 


DUTY OF INSOLVENTS. 


193 


which will set a passionate man on fire, and stir up 
the displeasure of the very meekest spirits. 

When the blow has fallen, other errors are fre¬ 
quently committed no less serious. If the property 
of the bankrupt belongs to his creditors, it should be 
handed over to them — promptly, entirely, without 
concealment, without unjust preferences. It is not 
for him to say how it shall be disposed of, nor to 
divide it at his discretion. The least he can in reason 
or justice do, is, to surrender it to them, and let them 
say what shall be done with it. If he does this, he 
will have his reward. His own conscience w T ill ratify 
it, and his creditors, if they are high-minded men, 
will be indulgent to his mistakes, and aid him, in so 
far as he is worthy of their help, in resuscitating his 
business. But instead of this honourable conduct, 
many a bankrupt conceals a portion of his property, 
submits a deceptive statement to his creditors, clogs 
his surrender with unwarrantable conditions, com¬ 
promises on terms much below his true capacity, or 
otherwise contravenes the first principles of morality. 
You may even find men who grow rich by failing. 
They have the tact and the audacity to regain confi¬ 
dence in financial circles, break as often as they may. 
Every body believes them to be rogues, but they have 
money, and “ money answereth all things.” They 
are trusted, therefore; and when the most eligible 
IT 


194 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


moment in their stock-jobbing or other speculations 
arrives, they “stop.” And the oftener they stop, 
the wealthier they get. If they were poor, the law 
might notice them. 

-“ Plate sin with gold, 

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; 

Arm it in rags, a pigmy’s straw doth pierce it.” 

This surely is the reason — there can be no other 
— why every great community embraces more or less 
of these unprincipled bankrupts, who look out super¬ 
ciliously from their ceiled houses or their gorgeous 
equipages, upon scores of industrious men whose 
property their pretended “ failures” have absorbed 
into their estates.* Ct This is a sore evil under the 
sun:” happily for the mercantile body, it is less 
common among them than in* the ranks of professed 

* These men belong to the class for whom bankrupt laws 
were originally designed. “ The first bankrupt statute, 34 & 
35 Hen. VIII., c. 4, begins with this preamble: ‘ Whereas 
divers and sundry persons, craftily obtaining into their hands 
great substance of other men’s goods, do suddenly flee to 
parts unknown, or keep their houses, not minding to pay or 
restore to any their creditors their debts and duties, but at 
their own wills and pleasures consume the substance obtained 
by credit of other men, for their own pleasure and delicate 
living, against all reason, equity, and good conscience.” — 
Christian’s Blackstone. 



SWINDLERS. 


195 


financiers. But the baseness of such a career, may 
well admonish every merchant of the importance, 
should misfortune overtake him, of avoiding the 
remotest appearance of equivocation or dishonesty. 
Bankruptcy is not necessarily linked with disgrace. 
It is one of the noblest characteristics of the commer¬ 
cial profession, that they are so ready to succour a 
brother in adversity. If he is really a competent 
and deserving man, who has kept his integrity un¬ 
tarnished, they are certain to come to his relief. 
And even if he has fallen into serious errors, there 
is no class of men in society wdio will treat his frailties 
with so much lenity, or be so ready to give him their con¬ 
fidence again, as his fellow-traffickers. But the shame¬ 
less insolvent whose “misfortunes” are real crimes, 
whose money is the wages of fraud, whose frequent 
bankruptcies are the signals of his subtlety and ava¬ 
rice, and whose very offers of kindness, often, are but 
piratical lights to decoy his neighbours upon the 
rocks — this man can not expect to be admitted to 
the fellowship of true merchants. They may use his 
money in pressing emergencies when they can get no 
other, but they will be likely to say of it, as has been 
said of treason, “ Yv T hile w r e like the loan, w*e despise 
the lender.” 

The great importance of this subject, will justify 
me in fortifying the views wdiich have been expressed, 


196 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


by an eminent authority, quoted in a former Lec¬ 
ture : — 

“ In the protracted agony, it has "been said, the greatest 
errors are committed. Can they be avoided ? Integrity de¬ 
mands that they should, and it never demands what is impos¬ 
sible. The first thing a man has to do in such circumstances, 
is to take honest counsel with himself; to state the case firmly, 
to examine it deliberately, and decide it justly; to go through 
with it as a work he is bound in conscience to perform; not 
slightingly, not carelessly, not deceitfully, but thoroughly, as 
if he were upon his oath to make a true inventory and ap¬ 
praisement. He is to look at his books, not to see the figures 
there set down, but whether the value is what they represent. 
Such a work is hard, very hard. Many a man closes his eyes, 
because he knows what he would see if they were opened. 
He perceives, but he voluntarily makes his perception indis¬ 
tinct, and persuades himself, or tries to persuade himself, 
that the truth is obscure, when he knows it is clear. He can¬ 
not plead ignorance. He is therefore laying up for himself a 
store of self-reproach, for finally he will be compelled to con¬ 
fess that he sinned against knowledge. The next thing to be 
done, is to take counsel with judicious friends. If it be hard 
for a man to look steadfastly at a painful and humiliating 
truth, still harder for him is it frankly to make it known to 
others. Yet it must be done, if we would profit by the advice 
of friends. And lastly, it is the duty of a man in these circum¬ 
stances, to counsel with his creditors, for it is their interest 
that is to be dealt with. Safe counsellors they will be found, 
and generous ones too, if they are honestly treated. This 
measure, however, is seldom resorted to, and in these few 
cases is too long postponed. In the mean time, that is, 


VALUE OF A LEGAL DISCHARGE. 197 

between the first warning of coming calamity and its final 
consummation, the ill-directed struggles of the failing man 
plunge him deeper and deeper into embarrassments and in¬ 
justice. But we need not attempt to follow him. Let us 
only add, that the duty of integrity in such circumstances, 
may be comprehended in a few words — a fair disclosure, a 
full surrender, and an equal distribution.’ 7 * 

All this, we will now suppose, has been effected, 
and the debtor, after paying his creditors the stipu¬ 
lated dividend, has received a legal discharge, and 
is once more a free man. Is he still morally bound 
for the residue of their claims ? I answer without 
hesitation, he is. The argument on this point is 
very short. Why is a man bound to pay his debts ? 
Not simply because the law of the land requires it. 
We might suppose a company of emigrants to land 
on a desert island, and commence trafficking among 
themselves, prior to the adoption of any civil consti¬ 
tution. Every one must feel that they would be 
bound to fulfil their contracts. There is, then, a 
ground of obligation underlying all human legisla¬ 
tion, and which that legislation, in fact, tacitly recog¬ 
nizes. Men are bound to pay their debts because it 
is right. The law of God requires us to fulfil our 
engagements: to do what we have promised to do. 
Legislation may, within certain limits, prescribe the 


17 * 


The Hon. John Sergeant. 



198 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTINGKHOUSE. 

methods in which this principle shall he carried into 
effect, hut the principle itself is beyond its juris¬ 
diction. 

Nor is it any sufficient answer to say, that in the 
case contemplated, the creditors have voluntarily 
absolved the debtor from their demands against him. 
In one sense, it is true, their act was voluntary. 
They compounded with him, and gave him a release 
because it w'as, under the circumstances, as they 
thought, the best thing they could do for themselves, 
and an act of kindness towards him. But it was not 
“ voluntary,” if by this term it be intended to denote 
that they would have preferred this course to the 
full liquidation of their demands, or that they would 
have acceded to it had there been any prospect, 
through other means, of collecting their dues. They 
did it, as it were, under constraint, certainly under 
the constraint of benevolent feeling, and not with 
any admission that they regarded their debtor as 
having complied with his engagements.* It was no 
part of their design to discharge his conscience , to 
cancel the moral obligation of his dues. They have 
simply given him a legal acquittance. Is it in his 
power to change the essential nature of this transac¬ 
tion, from a legal into a moral absolution ? Can he 


* See Dymond on this point. 



PERMANENT OBLIGATION OF DEBTS. 199 

take advantage of his own wrong, and make this act 
of settlement to mean what they never intended it 
should mean ? Has he the authority to take the 
awards of a human jurisprudence, and enrol them 
among those moral judgments which constitute the 
unalterable decrees of “heaven’s chancery”—to 
confound the dicta of an earthly magistracy, or the 
concessions extorted by his own errors or misfortunes 
from his fellow-men, with the decisions of that august 
tribunal, which reflects, in all its acts, the inviolable 
rectitude of Jehovah? Because his creditors have 
absolved him, has God absolved him ? Because the 
statute-book obliterates his debts and annuls his 
promises, does the Bible discharge him? Ho one 
will maintain this, who has not adopted that sordid 
theory of virtue, which makes it a commodity to be 
bought and sold at the shambles. The moral obliga¬ 
tion of a debt continues until the debt is paid in full, 
that is, until payment is tendered to the creditor. 
If he sees fit to decline it, he may do so. The debtor 
has discharged his duty by making the offer. Hence¬ 
forth he is free in morals and in law. 

It is easy to account for the misgivings we may 
feel on finding ourselves impelled towards this con¬ 
clusion. We picture to ourselves a deserving man, 
overtaken by reverses, surrendering his property, and 
discharged by his creditors; and it seems at first 


200 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


sight a hard case that he should still be bound for 
his old debts, and obliged to appropriate his future 
gains to their liquidation. And the picture appeals 
to our sympathies with an irresistible pathos, when 
we reflect that there are, perhaps, thirty thousand* 
of our countrymen in this situation. Not one syl¬ 
lable shall be uttered here in disparagement of the 
hardship and suffering involved in very many of these 
cases. There are few earthly trials more difficult to 
bear than some which come in this shape: to be in¬ 
sensible to them, were to be not more, but less, than 
human. But principles are immutable. Like the 
magnetic needle, which points steadily to the pole in 
all latitudes and in all weathers, indifferent alike to 
the calms which retard and the storms which shatter 
the ship, they are unaffected by circumstances. And 
whenever a people begin to let their circumstances 
mould their principles, they will become speedily de¬ 
bauched. It is in this way, precisely, that the com¬ 
mercial character of our own country has at some 
periods suffered a lamentable deterioration. To guard 
against this danger, we must beware how we blunt 
the public sensibility on the subject of bankruptcies, 
or encourage the feeling that a “ failure” is a trivial 
matter, which involves the parties concerned in a little 


* See the statistics? already cited. 



BANKRUPTCY, A COMMON CALAMITY. 201 

temporary inconvenience, without producing any fur¬ 
ther ill effects. The prevalence of this sentiment 
would be far more disastrous to a people, than all the 
personal and social distress which marks a commercial 
16 crisis.” It ought to be felt — wherever there is a 
healthy mercantile constitution, it is felt — that it is 
a very serious thing for a house to fail. Such an 
event, instead of being reported as part of the gossip 
of the day, ought to send a thrill through the whole 
community. It should be viewed as a common 
calamity. It should be treated as an occurrence 
affecting more or less the interests and reputation of 
the entire mercantile body, and demanding their calm 
and considerate attention. I do not say that they 
should visit the suspending house with their dis¬ 
pleasure. But they have an interest in knowing how 
and why it has stopped; whether through uncontrol¬ 
lable misfortune or through fraud; whether by some 
“ act of Providence” or by gross imprudence. And 
according as they find the facts to be, should they 
frame their judgment on the case and shape their 
conduct. 

It is easy to perceive how potent the moral influ¬ 
ence of a state of feeling like this would be in pre¬ 
venting failures. Merchants would be more wary of 
those habits and risks which define the highway to 
insolvency. There would be less over-trading and 


202 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


speculating,, less borrowing and endorsing, less of 
regal state in the style of living, and less extrava¬ 
gance among the wives and daughters. Fewer for¬ 
tunes would be made in a day, but the fortunes that 
were made, would have some solidity. Fewer men 
w r ould retire “ at thirty,” but when they did retire, 
they would be apt to sleep with a quiet conscience. 
Fewer families might revel in luxury, but those who 
had been raised to affluence, would be less likely to 
wake up of a morning and find the sheriff taking an 
inventory of their gorgeous drawing - rooms. — All 
these and many kindred results, would be promoted 
by the prevalence of correct views on the subject 
of bankruptcy. Wherever they have prevailed, other 
prudent maxims have been combined with them, and 
failures have been extremely rare. Our older mer¬ 
chants can recall such periods in our own history. 
The annals of Holland will supply other examples. Ho 
nation can point to a commercial career so untarnished 
as that of the Dutch. Their system of small profits 
and short credits would not suit the mercurial energy 
of our countrymen; but, combined as it was with the 
most sterling practical virtues, it conducted them to 
the very apex of commercial opulence and renown. 
“ Failures among them w T ere rare even in so distress¬ 
ing an era as the occupation of their country by the 
French, which began in 1T95, and involved, from the 


INTEGRITY OF THE DUTCH. 


203 


outset, a stoppage of maritime intercourse with all 
their posessions in India and America. The conse¬ 
quence of this stoppage was a decay of trade, a sus¬ 
pension of various undertakings, a scarcity of work, 
miserable dulness in the sale of goods; all leading, 
in the first instance, to diminished income, and even¬ 
tually to encroachment on capital: but amidst this 
distress, the failures were surprisingly few, fewer 
indeed than occur in Britain in any ordinary season.”* 
There is nothing in all the maritime enterprise and 
prosperity of the Dutch, which reflects so much hon¬ 
our on them as facts like these. And the extraor¬ 
dinary results here recorded, are to be ascribed in no 
inconsiderable degree, to the just sentiments they 
cherished on the subject of bankruptcy. If we would 
emulate them in their commercial glory, it must be 
by fostering similar sentiments among our mercantile 
classes. We must do nothing to subvert the great 
moral principles which are the buttresses of all hon¬ 
ourable commerce, and the decay of which is the sure 
precursor of embarrassment. Among these principles, 
are, the inviolability of contracts, the permanent ob¬ 
ligation of debts, and the imperative duty of restrict¬ 
ing one’s pecuniary engagements to what would be 
deemed, on a candid and prudent survey of things, 


Encyc. Brit. 




204 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


a just relation to the actual capital at command. A 
general adherence to these principles, would leave 
room for but few failures. Most of the paths which 
lead to insolvency would be closed up. The stoppage 
of a house would produce the same sensation in Phila¬ 
delphia or New York, which it occasions in Amster¬ 
dam. And while the dishonest bankrupt might look 
for general reprehension, men of real merit, over¬ 
whelmed by misfortune, would experience the most 
generous sympathy, and be promptly aided in reco¬ 
vering their position. 

It would be both easy and pleasant to illustrate 
this last remark, by an appeal to the history of any 
of our commercial cities. Numerous examples have 
occurred, and are annually occurring, of mercantile 
disasters, which have given occasion for the display 
of some of the noblest qualities which can dignify our 
nature. It is one of the finest moral spectacles ever 
presented in the progress of social life, that of a meri¬ 
torious merchant struck down in his business by some 
paralyzing blow, which has left him penniless, sur¬ 
rounded by a generous band of creditors, who come, 
not merely to soothe him with words of sympathy, 
but to employ their capital and influence in retrieving 
his misfortune and placing him on his feet again. 
And if there is any scene which surpasses this in true 
pathos, it is to see this smitten merchant, now restored 


THE REGALIA OF COMMERCE. 


205 


by the blessing of Providence to thrift and comfort, 
reassembling his benefactors, and requiting their mu¬ 
nificence by a cheerful liquidation of all their claims. 
Transactions of this kind have a value above all gold 
and silver. They make us think the better of human 
nature. They belong to the. regalig. of commerce. 
They augment the moral power of the community 
they adorn, and form, every one of them, a glorious 
cynosure to the tribes of youth who are pressing on 
amidst the conflicts and perils of a business-life. 

This discussion will hardly be deemed unseasonable 
at a period when the unparalleled prosperity of the 
country is alluring so many persons into the very 
practices we have been censuring. A philosophical 
French writer has observed, that “ the whole life of 
an American is passed like a game of chance, a revo¬ 
lutionary crisis, or a battle. ” This is no inapt de¬ 
scription of the present state of the country. The 
tendencies to inordinate speculation in real estate, 
stocks, merchandize, and other commodities, are too 
palpable to be mistaken. New schemes are broached 
with a facility and an assurance which would not 
have discredited the memorable era of ’37. Of these, 
some doubtless have a substantial basis, while others 
rest upon thin air; and the last are at such junctures 
quite as likely to take as the first. The adventurers 
18 


206 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


who manage them, are never lacking in effrontery or 
tact. They know under what auspices to propound 
a project, and how to conciliate in its favour a com¬ 
munity already inflamed with the fever of speculation. 
They put in requisition the whole machinery of pri¬ 
vate circulars, newspaper laudations, telegraphic des¬ 
patches, combinations, fictitious sales, and other ap¬ 
pliances ; and thus 

“ With air and empty names beguile the town, 

And raise new credits first, then cry 'em down; 

Divide the empty nothing into shares, 

And set the crowd together by the ears." 

The signs of the times forebode an approaching 
crash. It may not come next week, nor next year. 
But if the present inflation of prices continues, and 
wealth bewitches all classes with its sorceries, and 
speculation runs riot through the land, the catastrophe 
must come. Let it he impressed upon your minds, 
then, that this is the season of danger. It is at such 
periods that, “by little and little, circumspection 
gives way to the desire and emulous ambition of 
doing business , till, impatience and incaution on one 
side, tempting and encouraging headlong adventure, 
want of principle and confederacies of false credit on 
the other, the movements of trade become yearly 
gayer and giddier, and end at length in a vortex of 


THE ONLY SURE EQUIPMENT. 


207 


hopes and hazards, of blinding passions and blind 
practices, which should have been left, where alone 
they ought ever to have been found, among the 
wicked lunacies of the gaming-table.”* 

If you would escape these calamities, you must 
stand by your principles now. And those principles 
must be drawn from the Word of God, and written 
by his own finger upon your hearts. There is no 
other adequate safeguard for you. Human wisdom 
cannot cope with the insidious dangers which beset 
you. Human virtue is too weak to stand before 
them. If they imperilled your property merely, it 
were of less moment. If they put in jeopardy your 
reputation or your lives, even this might be borne. 
But they threaten, with the blasting of all your 
earthly prospects, to destroy your souls—to “ DROWN 
YOU IN DESTRUCTION AND PERDITION !” This it is 
which makes your situation so fearful, and which 
invests with such transcendent importance, the de¬ 
mands of the Bible upon your instant and lasting 
homage. Open your hearts to the devout and grate¬ 
ful reception of the precious truth, that “ Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and a 
new passion will spring up within you capable of 
subordinating to itself every adverse sentiment and 


* Coleridge. 



208 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

habit. Clad in the panoply of the Gospel, you will 
have the best possible protection against the dangers, 
and the only adequate support under the trials, of a 
business-life. Difficulties and losses you may still 
encounter ; but you will be sustained by an Almighty 
arm, and cheered by the prospect of acceding in the 
end to a crown of glory and a kingdom which shall 
never be moved. 


DIFFERENT PHASES OF COMMERCE. 209 


lecture $euent[r. 

PRINCIPALS AND CLERKS. 

There are two very different aspects in which a 
great mercantile establishment may be contemplated. 
You may enter one of these establishments, and as 
you pass from room to room and loft to loft, and 
survey the enormous piles of goods, the regiment of 
clerks, porters, and packers, the throng of customers, 
the activity and commotion and amicable strife of 
tongues, which meet you on every side, your whole 
impression of the scene may concentrate in the feel¬ 
ing— “ What a display of enterprise ! What a gen¬ 
erous capital! What a thriving business!” While 
the friend who is at your side, with far other eyes 
penetrating the materialism of the spectacle, may he 
wholly engrossed with the reflection, “What a school 
is this for the training of the heart! How rapidly 
must the tenantry of this busy hive, principals and 
subordinates of every grade, he ripening for glory or 
for shame !” These views are not incompatible : one 
18 * 


210 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


does not necessarily exclude the other. But with 
very many merchants, unfortunately, the secular quite 
neutralizes and absorbs the spiritual view. It is the 
habit of the commercial world to look at the little 
community which peoples one of these great ware¬ 
houses in its exclusively business relations. The tie 
which binds the inmates together, is simply a tie of 
convenience or of interest. The principal employs the 
requisite staff of men to do his work : the work is done, 
and they receive their wages : and this is the whole of 
it. But if the Bible is to have a voice in the mat¬ 
ter, there must be elements recognized in the organ¬ 
ization which impress upon it a much higher charac¬ 
ter. You cannot, with “the law and the testimony’’ 
in your hands, sink the man in the merchant. There 
is nothing in your avocation to absolve you from such 
divine enactments as these : — “ Whether, therefore, 
ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do , do all to the 
glory of God.” “ Thou shaft love thy neighbour as 
thyself.” “As we have, therefore, opportunity, let 
us do good unto all men.” “ To him that knoweth 
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” 
These precepts are as binding in the Counting-room 
as in the homestead; in your commercial, as in your 
domestic, households. And if you will but allow 
them their just weight, they will impregnate your 
trafficking with a leaven of righteousness, and make 


RESPONSIBILITY OF PRINCIPALS. 


211 


it no less a ministration of usef ulness than a means 
of wealth. 

It will be no strange thing, if this should prove, to 
many merchants, an unwelcome topic. The idea of 
assuming a responsibility over the moral training of 
their subordinates, has scarcely occurred to them. 
They have cares and anxieties enough already: how 
can they find time to look after the morals of their 
young men ? — But let it abate the displeasure awa¬ 
kened by this suggestion, to reflect that you are 
moulding the characters of these young men, whether 
you will or not. Providence has placed them, for 
the time being, under your roof, and you are shaping 
their principles. They will no more leave your estab¬ 
lishment as they entered it, than your sons will come 
home from Yale or Princeton, the same unsophisti¬ 
cated youths they were when their mother, four years 
ago, imprinted her farewell kiss upon their cheeks, 
and sent them forth to share the advantages and the 
dangers of a college-life. The process of education 
is going on in the one case with as little interruption 
as in the other; and the question for you to ponder, 
is, not whether you will direct this process in your 
counting-house, but how you will direct it. 

And here it is very affecting to consider how many 
mercantile firms there are, under whose administra¬ 
tion the wholesome principles which the young men 


212 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


in tlieir employ brought with them from their homes, 
undergo a sad deterioration. It is not that these 
firms have any deliberate purpose of corrupting the 
morals of their clerks; but the commodious virtue 
which presides in their warehouses, makes this result 
unavoidable. “ You must assuredly know that a cer¬ 
tain quantity of what has been called shuffling, has 
been introduced into the communications of the 
trading-world — insomuch that the simplicity of yea, 
yea, and nay, nay, is in some degree exploded; there 
is a kind of understood toleration established for cer¬ 
tain modes of expression, which could not, we are 
much afraid, stand the rigid scrutiny of the great 
day; and there is an abatement of confidence between 
man and man, implying, we doubt, such a propor¬ 
tionate abatement of truth as goes to extend most 
fearfully the condemnation that is due to all liars, 
who shall have their part in the lake that burneth 
wdtli fire and brimstone. And who can compute the 
effect of all this on the young and yet unpractised 
observer? Who does not see, that it must go to 
reduce the tone of his principles; and to involve him 
in many a delicate struggle between the morality he 
•has learned from his catechism and the morality he 
sees in the counting-house; and to obliterate, in his 
mind, the distinctions between right and wrong; and 
at length, to reconcile his conscience to a sin which, 


THE DOWNWARD PROCESS. 


213 


like every otter, deserves the wrath and curse of 
God; and to make him tamper with a direct com¬ 
mandment in such a way, as that falsehoods and 
frauds might be nothing more, in his estimation, than 
the peccadilloes of an innocent compliance with the 
practices and moralities of the world?”* The first 
stage in this downward process, is, to familiarize the 
mind of a youth with the conventional deceptions of 
trade — with its flexible dialect and its equivocal 
usages. Then let him begin to practise these lessons 
himself. And, finally, let him undertake, as he will 
be prepared to do, to initiate his juniors into the 
mysteries of this artificial code, under which words 
are no longer the signs of ideas, and veracity becomes 
a mere item of the Price-Current. This point attained, 
and he will be qualified to assume the functions 
of a principal, and direct the moral training of as 
large a corps of clerks as his own business may 
require. 

I come at once to this topic, because it is no part 
of my plan to discuss in detail the reciprocal duties 
appertaining to this relation. I cannot, for example, 
enlarge on the subject of wages — a very important 
subject surely, and one which it belongs to the char¬ 
acter of a true merchant to consider and adjust, with 


* Dr. Chalmers. 



214 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the utmost prudence and liberality. “ The labourer 
is worthy of his hire.” And if there are firms which 
requite the services of faithful and diligent clerks 
with a reluctant and niggard compensation — a com¬ 
pensation below the usual tariff of salaries and quite 
disproportionate to their business — such firms would 
do well to ponder that apostolic monition, “ Behold, 
the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your 
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: 
and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered 
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” (James 5: 4.) 
It is in allusion to the context of this passage, that 
Fuller, the quaint historian, says, “ The same word 
in the Greek (Jog) signifies rust and poison ; and some 
strong poison is made of the rust of metals, but none 
more venomous than the rust of money, in the rich 
man’s purse, unjustly detained from the labourer, 
which will poison and infect his whole estate.” — 
It is undoubtedly good policy, as well as sound prin¬ 
ciple, to pay the full stipends prescribed by general 
custom, augmenting them, from time to time, accord¬ 
ing to some equitable scale, and rewarding signal 
merit with appropriate testimonials. To do this 
wisely, a merchant will require to keep his eye upon 
the persons in his employ. Indeed, it will be both 
to his credit and his advantage, to note the peculiar 
traits of each one of his clerks — their faults, their 


LAPITTE. 


215 


virtues, their habits, their adaptations, and everything 
pertaining to then). If he is a good judge of char¬ 
acter, he will soon learn what they are from those 
little things which are apt to be deemed of no account. 
It is said that the fortune of M. Lafitte, the opulent 
French banker, was made by his picking up a pin. 
Arriving in Paris (a. d. 1T88), a young provincial, 
poor, modest, and timid, he called with a letter of 
introduction upon M. Perregeaux, an influential Swiss 
banker. “ It is impossible for me,” said Monsieur P. 
to him, “ to admit you into my establishment, at least 
for the present; all my offices have their complement. 
If I require any one at a future time, I will see what 
can be done.” Turning away with a downcast look, 
as the disappointed youth traversed the court-yard, 
he stooped to pick up a pin, which he stuck in the 
lappel of his coat. The banker was watching him 
from the window of his cabinet, and with a sagacious 
eye, not unaided, we may suppose, by the previous 
interview, saw in this trivial occurrence the index of 
qualities which a financier would know how to appre¬ 
ciate. That evening, young Lafitte received from 
M. Perregeaux a note to the following effect: — 

“A place is made for yoa in my office, which you may 
take possession of to-morrow morning.” 

The banker was not deceived. From simple clerk, 


216 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Lafitte soon rose to be cashier, then partner, then 
head of the first banking-house in Paris; and after¬ 
wards, in rapid succession, a Deputy, and President 
of the Council of Ministers, the highest point to 
which a citizen can aspire. And what is still more 
to his honour, he was a generous friend to the needy 
and unfortunate, and employed his princely wealth 
in doing good.* 

These are large results to flow from the picking 
up of a pin. And the narrative, suggestive as it 
must be to every thoughtful clerk, may illustrate the 
importance of a merchant’s observing closely the 
characters of the young men he has gathered around 
him. 

Another topic on which it might be pertinent to 
dwell, is, the proper carriage of a principal towards 
his clerks. The Counting-House is no less a school 
of manners and temper, than a school of morals. 
Vulgarity, imperiousness, peevishness, caprice, on the 
part of the heads, will produce their corresponding 
effects upon the household. Some merchants are 
petty tyrants. Some are too surly to be fit for any 
charge, unless it be that of taming a shrew. The 
coarseness of others, in manner and language, must 
either disgust or contaminate all their subordinates. 


* Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine. 



VALUE OF SUNSHINE. 


217 


In one establishment you will encounter an unmanly 
levity, which precludes all discipline. In another, a 
mock dignity, which supplies the juveniles with a 
standing theme of ridicule. In a third, a capricious¬ 
ness of mood and temper, which reminds one of the 
prophetic hints of the weather in the old almanacs — 
“ windy” — “ cool ”—“ very pleasant ”—“ blustering” 
— “ look out for storms” — and the like. And in a 
fourth, a selfish acerbity, which exacts the most un¬ 
reasonable services, and never cheers a clerk with a 
word of encouragement. — These are sad infirmities. 
Men ought not to have clerks until they know how 
to treat them. Their own comfort, too, would be 
greatly enhanced by a different deportment. In 
turning over a magazine, my eye once fell upon a 
paragraph headed, “The Daily Value of Sunshine.” 
I was at a loss to conjecture what this could mean. 
On reading it, I found that the writer had employed 
his ingenuity in calculating the average pecuniary 
value of each day in ripening the crops of the United 
States. Thus, suppose the aggregate worth of these 
crops to be $500,000,000 annually, as the thorough 
maturing of them depends essentially on the sunshine 
of the four warmest months, its daily value must be 
about four millions of dollars. It instantly occurred 
to me to ask, if sunshine in the fields is worth four 
millions, what would its daily value be in all the 
19 


218 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Counting-Houses of the United States? It might 
require an adept in the higher calculus to solve this 
sum, but I apprehend there are clerks in some estab¬ 
lishments who would set about it with some feeling. 
Certain it is, that there is the greatest possible differ¬ 
ence in the working of establishments, the heads of 
which are men of a serene temper, whose cheerful 
and friendly manner inspirits all their subalterns, 
and those which are managed with a cold reserve or 
a petulance which extinguishes all vivacity, and adds 
fresh clogs to the leaden feet of labour. A wise 
merchant even from policy, and a Christian merchant 
from principle, will keep all the sunshine they can in 
their counting-rooms. 

But I am wandering from the higher theme, the 
morals of this relation. Points of casuistry are some¬ 
times obscured by unessential concomitants. Let us 
transfer the morality of trade to another theatre. — 
You return from your store, we will suppose, of an 
evening, and, sitting down in your Library, hear your 
son in the adjoining parlour describing to some inqui¬ 
sitive visitor various objects of utility or fancy de¬ 
posited there. “ These lounges, sir,” (he might say,) 
“ which are of a novel pattern, were made in Boston. 
The lustres are from the ancient glass-manufactory 
on the island of Murano, near Venice. This mosaic 
table my father ordered on his last visit to Florence: 


DIALECT OF TRADE, IN THE PARLOUR. 219 

it cost him a thousand dollars. That beautiful water- 
scene which you admire so much, was painted for him 
by Horace Vernet, at an expense of seven hundred 
dollars. It is the only painting we have in the house; 
as my father does not choose to have his walls dis¬ 
figured with mere daubs. This ivory cabinet from 
China is the only one of the kind ever sent to this 
country.” And so, he might go on until the cata¬ 
logue was finished. On the departure of his guest, 
your son comes to you, and you meet him with an 
outburst of surprise and displeasure. “ How was it 
possible, sir, for you to tell that gentleman so many 
lies ? You know very well that you have given him 
an incorrect account of these articles. The lounges 
were made in Chestnut street. The lustres are from 
New England. The table is from Matlock, and cost 
a hundred dollars. The painting was by Cole; I 
paid him three hundred dollars for it: and besides, 
there are a dozen other paintings up-stairs. And as 
to the cabinet, the Chinese send them here by scores. 
How could you utter such falsehoods?” “ Father,” 
we may suppose this promising son to reply, “ why 
do you speak so harshly to me ? I have done nothing 
but what we are constantly doing at the store , and I 
had no reason to believe that you disapproved of it. 
I knew that this stranger was not a judge of these 
objects, and that it would greatly enhance not only 


220 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


his astonishment, hut his pleasure, to he told these 
wonderful tales about them. Wherein does this differ 
in principle from our customs at the counting-house ? 
For example, we clerks are sometimes directed to put 
French labels on English goods. We sell American 
cloths for English —just as good, no doubt, but still 
they never saw England. We are not reproved for 
calling old goods the ‘ newest styles,’ nor for telling 
a man that the piece he is looking at, is the only one 
we have in the store, or the only sample which has 
been brought to the city. If an article cost twenty- 
five dollars a bale, we do not think it wrong, in traf¬ 
ficking, to say it cost thirty — which is only five 
more. We are in the habit of saying that goods are 
4 all woollen’ or ‘ all silk,’ when there may possibly 
be a little cotton in them. And we take it for granted 
this sort of dialect is justifiable, because we have ob¬ 
served that the members of the firm do not avoid it 
in their intercourse with customers. Why, then, should 
I not talk at home as I do at the ware-rooms ? Cer¬ 
tainly you will not say that a mode of speaking which 
is wrong in Walnut street, may be right in Market 
street; or that there is one system of morality for 
business, and another for domestic life ? Indeed, it 
strikes me, that of the two, there is less harm in 
dealing in a little exaggeration at home than at the 
counting-house; because here we do it simply to 


THE MORAL LAW, NO PHANTASM. 221 

increase the pleasure of our friends and make their 
time pass agreeably; whereas we employ it there to 
get money out of our customers.” 

Such might be your son’s vindication of himself. 
And I confess, I do not very well see how it could 
be refuted. In any event, I should be sorry to have 
the task of answering him, devolved upon me. For 
I can imagine nothing more embarrassing to a casuist, 
than to be called upon to prove that the law delivered 
in the midst of that majestic scene at Sinai, is, after 
all, nothing but a mere “ dissolving view,” which 
vanishes into a totally different thing as a man passes 
from his dwelling-house to his counting-room. 

The idea of so reforming the vocabulary of trade 
as to make it harmonize with the only true standard, 
may appear to some persons very chimerical. But 
there are many firms whose example goes to dispel 
the mischievous delusion, that some measure of fraud 
and falsehood is necessary to the successful prose¬ 
cution of business. With these houses, it would be a 
grave offence for a clerk to tell a lie. And as to 
encouraging them in this practice, they would sooner 
abandon business altogether than do it. They would 
regard it as a crime to tamper with the conscience of 
an ingenuous youth who had been confided for the 
time to their guardianship. It were no trivial wrong, 
to deny him the proper facilities for obtaining a 
19 * 


222 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-IIOUSE. 

knowledge of the business, or to refuse him an equit¬ 
able compensation for his services. But deliberately 
to subvert his moral principles, by teaching him to 
ignore alb distinction between truth and falsehood, is 
an atrocity they would shrink from as they would 
from putting the drunkard’s cup in his hands.* And 
they are right. Among all the contents of their 
spacious warehouses, and all the interests committed 
to their management, there are none of higher value, 
none for their treatment of which they will be held 
to a more rigid responsibility, than the consciences 
of these young men. Let theiH beware how they 
neglect or abuse so sacred a deposit. 

This caution may be extended further. There is 
one practice, in particular, very current, as it is 
alleged, in our commercial cities, which deserves to 
be noticed in this connection. I have been repeat¬ 
edly requested to speak of it in these Lectures, and 
the impressions which prevail about it are of the most 
decided and painful character. The following com¬ 
munication has been sent to me on the subject: — 


* I am acquainted with a most estimable gentleman in this 
city, who was dismissed from a clerkship some years ago, 
because he positively refused to tell a lie on his employer’s 
requiring him to do it. The principal broke, and went to 
ruin: the clerk is now a successful and honoured merchant. 



DRUMMING. 


223 


Philadelphia, Feb. 21, 1853. 

To the Ret. Dr. Boardman. 

Dear Sir: — Will you allow an auditor to ask your atten¬ 
tion to a certain usage of commercial men, with the hope that 
it will not he passed in silence in your public Lectures. The 
allusion is to what in professional cant, is called drumming 
or boring. A young man, on entering into the service of a 
commercial house, soon learns that his compensation, encour¬ 
agement, and aid, from the the firm, will depend, not merely 
upon his urbanity, activity, and address, as a salesman,'but, 
in an equal or greater degree, upon his success in drawing 
custom to the house. This requires him, when the business 
of the day is closed, to resort to places of entertainment with 
strangers and acquaintances who come to the city for trade. 
To mature a mercenary acquaintance and secure his custom, 
he calls to his aid the cigar and the social glass, and tarries 
long, it may be, at the wine; he goes in company with him 
to places of public amusement, or pilots the unprincipled 
stranger to more hidden scenes of vice. In this service, a 
young man soon learns to put away a good conscience from 
him, and barters his fair fame and his immortal interests for 
the poor profits of another's unrighteous gain. 

This evil may be illustrated by a single example. Some 
time since, a young man in one of our large cities fell under 
the censure of his employer, when he returned upon his re¬ 
prover this terrible retort: — “ Sir, I came into your service 
uncorrupt in principles and in morals. But the rules of your 
house required me to spend my evenings at places of public 
entertainment and amusement, in search of customers. To 
accomplish my work in your service, I was obliged to drink 
with them, and join with them in their pursuit of pleasure. 


224 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


It was not my choice, hut the rule of the house. I went with 
them to the theatre and to the billiard table: but it was not 
my choice. I did not wish to go ; I went in your service. It 
was not my pleasure so to do; but I was the conductor and 
companion of 4 the simple ones/ void alike of understanding 
and of principle, in their sinful pleasures and deeds of deeper 
darkness, that I might retain them as your customers. Your 
interest required it. I have added thousands of dollars to 
the profits of your trade, but at what expense you now see, 
and I know too well. You have become wealthy: but I am 
poor indeed. And now this cruel dismissal from your employ, 
is the recompense I receive, for a character ruined and pros¬ 
pects blasted, in helping to make you a rich man!” 

This may be an extreme case; but of the multitudes who 
crowd our hotels and hover around the places of public resort 
as drummers for their respective houses in the season of active 
trade, who can doubt that many are led into temptation, and 
drawn unto death, encouraged by the principal, who, if 
he does not directly require the service, smiles approbation, 
with a masterly unconsciousness respecting the iniquitous 
means by which his trade is increased. 

Very respectfully, yours,-. 

This letter may serve both for text and commen¬ 
tary. It is not for me to say how far the usage pre¬ 
vails, of which it speaks, nor to what extent its details 
are sanctioned by the mercantile body. Among the 
expedients for increasing custom, generated by the 
competition and enterprise of the times, it is not, 
perhaps, surprising that young men, answering to the 
u commercial travellers” of some of the European 


USE AND ABUSE OF THE PRINCIPLE. 


225 


countries, should be sent out to traverse our distant 
States, and that others should be charged with the 
duty of waiting on merchants from abroad as they 
arrive in the great cities. In themselves considered, 
these practices involve no principle of morals, and 
every merchant must judge for himself as to the 
expediency of adopting them, or either of them. But 
the latter of them is clearly liable to great abuse; 
and if we may credit what we hear, is actually abused, 
to an extent which demands the serious attention of 
the entire mercantile profession. 

I shall not be deemed to take ground adverse to 
commercial tact and vigilance, if I maintain, that any 
system of which the case presented in the letter just 
quoted may be regarded as a fair exposition, must be 
radically wrong. If any one chooses to assert the 
indefeasible right of a city jobber to employ young 
men in “ boring” country merchants, it would be 
quite absurd to argue that question here. So the 
country merchants are willing to be “ bored,” it were 
very officious in a third party to come in and say 
they should not be gratified. But I venture to take 
my stand between these young men and their princi¬ 
pals, and to say, that you have no right to commis¬ 
sion them to use such arts as the letter sets forth, 
for the purpose of bringing customers to your stores. 
Nor (that I may forestall any evasion of this proposi- 


226 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


tion) have you a right to connive at their doing the 
things which are therein described. It will not avail 
to say, “I have never instructed my salesmen to 
‘ drink’ with strangers, and take them to the theatre 
and other places of vicious amusement.” Salesmen 
may not he “instructed” on this head at all; but 
unless the public are at fault, they rarely engage 
in these practices, that their principals do not know 
of it, and too commonly they are supplied with 
extra funds for the very purpose. I see no differ¬ 
ence in morals between sanctioning the thing di¬ 
rectly, and winking at it.* — Nor is it any justifica¬ 
tion, to urge, that strangers naturally wish to par¬ 
ticipate in the amusements of a large city, and it is 
hut common courtesy to supply them with a guide. 
Of the abstract right of strangers or citizens to sus¬ 
tain such amusements as are contemplated in these 
remarks, I shall not now speak. They have their 
own responsibility in the premises: let them see to 
that. But whence comes your obligation, or even 
your authority, to send, or theirs to employ, your 

* A gentleman of New York who heard this Lecture, sub¬ 
sequently stated to the author, that he knew of houses in 
that city, claiming to stand in the first rank as honourable 
firms, which kept a private money-drawer from which the 
clerks supplied themselves with funds to be expended in the 
manner described in the text. 



A HUMAN SACRIFICE. 


227 


clerks on this business ? If you choose to go your¬ 
selves, very well. I do not say that you would be 
innocent, hut you would escape the criminality which 
attaches to the existing usage. “ Criminality,” I 
say; and I mean it. Take the example in the letter. 
Can there he two opinions as to the criminality of 
that firm ? “ To accomplish my work in your ser¬ 

vice, I was obliged to drink with them, and join with 
them in their pursuit of pleasure. It was not my 
choice, but the will of the house. I went with them 
to the theatre and to the billiard-table: but it was 
not my choice; I did not wish to go : I went in your 
service.”—Why, if you could poll the civilized world, 
you would have a verdict of guilty pronounced against 
them by acclamation. The ruin of their clerk lies at 
their door. They thrust him into a thicket of tempt¬ 
ations, which they had every reason to believe would 
destroy him. They knew what was the common re¬ 
sult of the career in which they started him. Tens 
of thousands of young men in their own city, had 
gone to destruction in the same way: how was he to 
escape ? This, unhappily, was not the question with 
them. They wanted customers ; and if customers can 
be got by offering up to Mammon, one of their clerks, 
the son possibly of a widowed mother, they are will¬ 
ing to sacrifice him. And when they have so de¬ 
bauched him that he is no longer fit even to be the 


228 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


minion of their avarice, then they consummate their 
huge iniquity, by branding him with disgrace, and 
sending him forth to break the hea\'t of the mother 
that bare him, and, unless saved as by miracle, to go 
down to a drunkard’s grave and the drunkard’s hell! 
Ye ruthless devotees of Mammon! drive on your 
eager traffic. Roll up your ample profits. Rejoice 
in your expanding business. Array your households 
in purple and fine linen. And revel in the gratula- 
tions of a sycophantic world. But there is a curse 
in your prosperity. Your gains are the price of 
blood. There is blood upon your merchandize; 
blood upon your coffers; blood upon all your wretched 
pageantry; blood upon your souls! The blood of 
that betrayed and immolated youth, cries to heaven 
for vengeance; the anguish of that broken-hearted 
mother, pierces the ear of the Lord God of Sabaoth; 
and sooner or later, except ye be sprinkled with the 
blood which turns vengeance into mercy, you must 
confront your victim before a tribunal where the rust 
of your cankered gold “ shall be a witness against 
you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire!” 

It cannot be that this colossal iniquity is charge¬ 
able upon many of the firms which challenge an hon¬ 
ourable standing in the commercial world; but there 
is a principle here which may require to be enforced 
upon merchants of every class. Your responsibility 


PATERNAL SUPERVISION. 


229 


as to your clerks is not restricted to the hours they 
spend in your warehouses. The same obligation 
which forbids your sending them into scenes of dissi¬ 
pation in quest of custom, makes it incumbent upon 
you to know where they are living, and what are 
their usual evening avocations. A merchant, cer¬ 
tainly, who means to fulfil his duties to his clerks in 
the spirit of the Bible, will see that they are not 
boarding at unsuitable places. He will interest them, 
if practicable, in some library company or other insti¬ 
tution, which may offer them attractive and rational 
relaxation. He will caution them against vicious 
companions and corrupting amusements. He will 
counsel them to a due observance of the Sabbath, 
and a regular attendance at some evangelical church. 
And whenever his quick eye detects about them 
symptoms of negligence or wrong-doing, he will 
interpose his friendly aid in a private and judicious 
manner, to arrest the evil at the outset, and re¬ 
establish their goings. These are offices which every 
merchant would wish to have his own sons enjoy at 
the hands of a brother-merchant: why, then, should 
you not all extend them to the entire corps of your 
clerks ? Inexperienced, as many of them must be, 
absent from their homes, and beset with snares, they 
need, not merely an employer, but a friend. Who 
so fit to be their friends as their employers ? You 
20 


230 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

cannot, if you would, avoid moulding, more or less, 
their plastic characters: is it not an object worthy 
of a generous ambition, to exert your power over 
them for their highest good; to train them to integ¬ 
rity and respectability as merchants, and to surround 
them, as far as you can, with influences which are 
favourable to their eternal well-being ? It will he a 
pleasant reflection on your death-bed, that your 
Counting-House has been a school of virtue to your 
assistants; that no young man ever learned there to 
be sordid or deceitful; that you bestowed a paternal 
care upon your clerks, and uniformly endeavoured as 
well to protect their morals and promote their salva¬ 
tion, as to educate them to an honourable commercial 
life. 

I know not that I can better introduce the few 
suggestions to which 1 must limit myself in address¬ 
ing Clerks, than by quoting a paper which is inte¬ 
resting in itself and from its history. You will all 
remember the burning of the steamer Henry Clay on 
the Hudson River last summer — one of those whole¬ 
sale murders with which we have become familiar in 
this country, and which show how little removed we 
are as a nation, in our practical estimate of the value 
of human life, from a state of downright barbarism. 
Among the numerous victims of that flagitious crime, 


STEPHEN ALLEN. 


231 


was tlie Hon. Stephen Allen, an aged and opulent 
merchant of New York, who had filled the Mayoralty 
of that city and various other public offices, with credit 
to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. On 
recovering the body of this venerable man, a day or 
two after the disaster, a well-worn newspaper-slip 
w T as found in his pocket-book, of which the following 
is a copy : — 

Keep good company or none. 

Never be idle. 

If jour hands cannot be usefully employed, attend to the 
cultivation of your mind. 

Always speak the truth. 

Make few promises. 

Live up to your engagements. 

Keep your own secrets, if you have any. 

When you speak to a person, look him in the face. 

Good company and good conversation are the very sinews 
of virtue. 

Good character is above all things else. 

Your character cannot be essentially injured, except by 
your own acts. 

If any one speaks evil of you, let your life be so that 
none will believe him. 

Drink no kind of intoxicating liquors. 

Ever live (misfortunes excepted) within your income. 

When you retire to bed, think over what you have been 
doing during the day. 

Make no haste to be rich, if you would prosper. 


232 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


Small and steady gains give competency with tranquillity 
of mind. 

Never play at any kind of game of chance. 

Avoid temptation, through fear you may not withstand it. 

Earn money before you spend it. 

Never run into debt, unless you see a way to get out again. 

Never borrow, if you can possibly avoid it. 

Do not marry until you are able to support a wife. 

Never speak evil of any one. 

Be just before you are generous. 

Keep yourself innocent, if you would be happy. 

Save when you are young, to spend when you are old. 

Read over the above maxims at least once a week. 

This was Mr. Allen’s Vade Mecum , his pocket-com¬ 
panion and chart. The maxims were embodied in 
his life, and, by the favour of Providence, conducted 
him to wealth and honour. You will readily see that, 
excellent as they are in the main, they are very de¬ 
fective, some principles and duties of prime import¬ 
ance being omitted altogether. It is pleasant to 
know that these had engaged, more and more, the 
attention of this upright and useful citizen during 
the closing years of his life, and that he expressed 
to his friends, not only his firm belief in the doctrines 
of Christianity, but his personal reliance upon its 
Saviour. 

The counsels are not cited here as being exclu- 

© 

sively applicable to young men: some of them con- 


DUTIES OF A CLERK. 


233 


template rather the merchant than the clerk. But 
both classes may consult them with advantage. 
Having set them before you, I go on to observe, 
in the spirit of these hints, that 

Every clerk should identify himself with the house 
he is engaged in . This is one of the most obvious 
principles appertaining to this relation. From the 
moment you enter the service of a firm, their interest 
must be yours. You sustain a relation to them, which 
you hold to no other house. While you are not to 
stoop to any immorality for the purpose of serving 
them, you are to guard their property and their 
reputation, as though they were your own; you are 
to avoid whatever may injure them, and do all in 
your power to contribute to their prosperity. If it 
is incumbent upon your principals to take a friendly 
interest in you, the correlative obligation rests upon 
you to promote, as you may be able, both their busi¬ 
ness and their personal comfort. It is not always 
the fault of the principals, that the tie which binds 
the tenantry of a commercial establishment together 
is of a mere mercenary character: the most liberal 
policy on their part may he thwarted by a set of per¬ 
verse or selfish clerks. 

It is only a modification of the principle just 
affirmed, to insist upon the strictest fidelity in dis¬ 
charging all the duties proper to the position you 
20 * 


234 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


occupy. It cannot be necessary to repeat here the 
familiar adage, that “ whatever is worth doing at all, 
should be well done.” But let every clerk remem¬ 
ber, that there is no department of the work entrusted 
to him, which is not embraced in the obligation, to 
serve his employers to the very best of his ability. 
There are many ways in which he may violate this 
rule, short of going to the safe and thrusting his hand 
into the money-drawer. He may fail in punctuality. 
He may so exhaust his energies with an evening’s 
dissipation, as to be unfitted for the next day’s duties. 
He may perform his work in a listless, drowsy man¬ 
ner, not only unjust to the house, but provoking to 
his fellow-clerks, since their toil will have to bear the 
brunt of his laziness. He may see goods suffering 
from exposure or other causes, without protecting 
them. He may alienate customers by the gruffness 
of his manner or his offensive volubility. He may 
disappoint others by failing to have their goods or 
their bills ready at the stipulated time. He may 
arrogate an unauthorized responsibility in the open¬ 
ing of new accounts, and thus involve the firm in 
vexatious and mortifying negotiations. He may 
neglect to forward goods as per agreement, without 
writing to apprize the owner of the reason. He 
may turn town-crier, and publish far and near those 
private matters concerning the business of the house, 


EYE-SERVICE. 


235 


which every sentiment of honour should restrain him 
from breathing outside the ware-rooms. He may 
recommend for a clerkship some inefficient or unreli¬ 
able crony, who wants a place, but does not deserve 
one. — These, and very many other things like these, 
which a clerk may do, are incompatible with fidelity, 
and in derogation of his employers’ just claims upon 
him. 

The essential quality for a young man in this posi¬ 
tion, is that sound moral 'principle which is at once 
the best monitor to duty and the surest guarantee of 
confidence. I can picture to myself the daily routine 
of two clerks, one of whom is swayed by principle, 
and the other by policy. The latter is of that class 
the apostle had in view when he said — “ not with 
eye-service, as men-pleasers.” His performances are 
all summed up in the phrase, “ eye-service.” When 
his employers are present, he is extremely diligent. 
Behind their backs, he is a model of sloth and un¬ 
faithfulness. So it can be concealed from them, he 
cares not how late he comes to his work, how little 
of it he does, nor how much he slights it. Whatever 
time he bestowa upon labour, is so much lost: he finds 
his life in lounging and trifling, in idle gossip and 
trashy novels. — His fellow is of a widely different 
type. The power which controls his movements, is 
not in the eye of his master, but in his own breast. 


236 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

It matters not with him, who is present, or who ab¬ 
sent. His work is to be done, irrespective of all out¬ 
ward circumstances. The interpretation he puts upon 
his articles of agreement, makes him do for his em¬ 
ployers as he would do for himself. Always at his 
post, he pursues his avocation with an unfaltering 
step. Impelled to diligence and constancy, not by 
the fear of a discharge, but by the consciousness of 
right, he enjoys a serenity of mind to which his com¬ 
panion , is a stranger, and is as steadily advancing 
towards honour and usefulness, as the other is sink¬ 
ing into disgrace and contempt. — It cannot be too 
often reiterated in the ears of our young men, that 
this is the true path to success. “Wait not for great 
occasions before you begin to act; wherever your lot 
may be cast, the sphere of duty lies immediately 
around you. Fill it up with an example of the kind¬ 
ness that attracts, the sincerity that can be seen 
through like crystal, the diligence that anticipates 
duty, the trustworthiness that defies suspicion, the 
openheartedness that opens other hearts, the manly 
character that commands esteem, the Christian char¬ 
acter that arms its possessor with a power more than 
earthly. Defer not to a distant time the intention 
to begin.” “ One to-day is worth two to-morrows.” 
Only treat duty as a sacred thing, and you will find 
that “ in keeping His commandments there is great 
reward.” 


TEMPERS AND MANNERS. 


237 


Among the minor causes of failure with young 
men in this relation, the subject of tempers and 
manners deserves a prominence which cannot be 
conceded to it in these brief discussions. That a 
clerkship is frequently a severe school of discipline 
for the temper, cannot be denied. But this is a part 
of the necessary training of a merchant. Let it en¬ 
courage those who are subjected to the caprices of 
unreasonable employers, who are found fault with 
when they are guiltless of all wrong, scolded when 
they have done the best they could, and denied in¬ 
dulgences which others enjoy, that the self-control 
they are acquiring under this rough tutelage, may be 
of more value to them hereafter than all the smiles 
their masters could lavish upon them. And beware 
of cherishing tempers which might give just occasion 
for reproof. It is not enough that you be honest and 
industrious and intelligent. A clerk may be all this, 
and yet neutralize the impression of his good qualities 
by a levity which makes him seem a mere trifler. 
Or he may repel people by his sulkiness or his irri¬ 
tability. He may be foolishly sensitive to affronts. 
He may be a slave to envy and jealousy. He may 
be utterly deficient in that good feeling which would 
make him willing to lend a helping hand to his fellows 
in time of need. He may be too proud for his sta¬ 
tion, and deem it an indignity to perform offices which 


238 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


better and wiser men than himself have often per¬ 
formed without scruple. “ A man’s pride shall bring 
him low, but honour shall uphold the humble in 
spirit.” Let me quote on this point, a paragraph 
from a very pleasant letter of Dr. Franklin’s (written 
in his seventy-ninth year) to Dr. Mather of Boston:— 

“ It is now more than sixty years since I left Boston ; but 
I remember well both your father and grandfather, having 
heard them both in the pulpit, and seen them in their houses. 
The last time I saw your father was in the beginning of 1724. 
He received me into his Library, and on my taking leave, 
showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow 
passage, which was crossed by a beam over-head. We were 
still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and 
I turning partly towards him, when he said hastily, ‘ Stoop/ 
‘ Stoop/ I did not understand him till I felt my head hit 
against the beam. He was a man that never missed any 
occasion of giving instruction ; and upon this he said to me, 
‘ You are young, and have the world before you: stoop as 
you go through it, and you will miss many hard thumps.’ 
The advice thus beat into my head, has frequently been of 
use to me, and I often think of it when I see pride mortified, 
and misfortunes brought, upon people by their carrying their 
heads too high.” 

People of every avocation may profit by this les¬ 
son ; and tbe clerk who is disposed to take it volun¬ 
tarily, will fare better than he who waits to have it 
“ beaten into his head” by some mortifying occur¬ 
rence or positive loss. Bely upon it, if you do not 


LEAENING TO STOOP. 


239 


know how to “ stoop,” you have a rugged path before 
you — very much such a path as a platoon of soldiers 
would find who should undertake to march with mili¬ 
tary precision, carriage erect, eyes straight forward, 
and muskets a-shoulder, through a tangled and swampy 
forest. Sooner or later, you will have to “stoop”; 
and you will do it with more grace and more comfort 
if you practise the art now, than if you let your mus¬ 
cles acquire such a rigidity that when the inflexion 
becomes unavoidable, the performance will be certain 
to savour of the awkwardness of a rustic on his first 
introduction at court. 

One of the common sources of danger and disaster 
with clerks, is, extravagance in tlieir mode of living. 
The usual scale of mercantile salaries in our cities, is 
adjusted to the most economical habits. It is, there¬ 
fore, a perilous thing for those who depend upon 
these salaries to become smitten with a passion for 
display. How is a young man to rent a suite of 
richly-furnished rooms, keep up an elegant wardrobe, 
decorate his person with costly jewelry, and indulge 
in expensive amusements, on a stipend of a few hun¬ 
dred dollars ? It is natural that the employers of a 
young man who is seen to be attempting this, should 
have their eyes upon him. And if the experiment 
goes on, they will be curious to learn whence he de¬ 
rives his income. It may come from legitimate quar- 


240 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


ters: lie may have collateral resources of which they 
are ignorant. Or it may come from their warehouse. 
The love of dress and company may have mastered 
his integrity, and put him upon a system of pecula¬ 
tion. Possibly, he has become a speculator. If he 
occupies a “ confidential” position, and has free access 
to the finances of the firm, some intriguing operator 
may have enticed him into a course of stock-gambling. 
Once committed to this nefarious business, the checks 
of the house are dealt out freely to his partner in 
iniquity, and for a while, he has no lack of revenues 
to sustain his luxurious habits. Ordinarily, however, 
“the triumphing of the wicked is short:” his dis¬ 
honesties are brought to light, and he is either driven 
out of society in shame, or consigned to a penitentiary. 
If any are disposed to argue that in cases of this sort, 
unhappily become so common, the burden of guilt 
lies upon the receiver of the funds abstracted, I shall 
not quarrel with them. The man who will encourage 
a clerk in such a career, who will stimulate him to 
obtain by robbery the moneys requisite to carry on 
one speculation after another, is a hundred-fold more 
deserving of the State-prison than the wretch who 
breaks open your store and carries off your goods. 
The defects inseparable from human jurisprudence, 
make it difficult to convict this class of offenders; and 
so it happens that they are apt to go “ unwhipt of 


DISSIPATION. 


241 


justice.” But there can be no difference of opinion 
among honest men as to their moral turpitude. Still, 
this does not excuse the allies and instruments of 
their villany. The clerk who allows himself to be 
drawn into a plot of this kind, richly deserves the 
reprehension which his treachery and fraud are sure 
to bring down upon him: — and he deserves it all 
the more, because his own extravagances are usually 
the remote spring of his derelictions. 

Closely affiliated with the errors just adverted to, 
are the habits commonly indicated by the word, dis¬ 
sipation. This topic has been mentioned already in 
connection with the custom known amongst us by the 
technical appellations of “drumming” and “boring.” 
The observations addressed to principals, imply what 
is the duty of clerks, in respect to that particular 
usage. But their dangers extend quite beyond this. 
How varied and imminent they are, must be apparent 
to every one who has lived for any length of time in 
a large city, and who considers that the greater por¬ 
tion of the young men in our mercantile establish¬ 
ments, have been brought up in the comparative quiet 
and purity of the country. The serried temptations 
of the metropolis come upon them all at once. They 
have had no opportunity to become familiarized with 
them by degrees, and fortified against them. They 
encounter them en masse , and at the very moment 
21 


242 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

•when they are deprived of the sheltering influences 
•which are bound up in a cherished home. The day 
which transfers them from the paternal fireside, with 
its wholesome restraints and elevating associations, 
to a great metropolitan hotel or boarding-house, sees 
them exposed for the first time to a host of dangers, 
each one of which has slain its tens of thousands. 
The wonder is, not that some should fall, but that so 
many escape. And in so far as our own city is con¬ 
cerned, no thanks will be due to the public authorities 
of the Commonwealth, if the proportion of those who 
escape, shall not be diminished from year to year. 
You will readily understand this allusion. The vice 
which destroys more of our young men than any 
other, is Intemperance. And the course of recent 
legislation in Pennsylvania has been such as to mul¬ 
tiply indefinitely the facilities and inducements to 
intemperance in this city and county. When the 
Emperor of China was urged to legalize the opium- 
trade, and thus derive a revenue from it, the answer 
he made (and it is worthy to be inscribed upon the 
throne of that empire in perpetuity), was this : — “ It 
is true , I cannot prevent the introduction of the 
flowing-poison: gain-seeking and corrupt men ivill , 
for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes; but 
nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the 
vice and misery of my people .” A voice like this 


INTEMPERANCE LEGALIZED. 


243 


from a pagan throne, might well make the ears of 
Christian legislators to tingle. But the State of 
Pennsylvania stoops to put into its treasury the fee 
of every man who chooses to pay a paltry fifty dollars 
for the liberty of retailing liquid poison to its citizens. 
The consequences are equally notorious and appalling. 
Since the enactment of this law, dram-shops of every 
grade have sprung up all over our city. The most 
fashionable avenues are disfigured with genteel grog- 
geries ; and at certain hours of the day and evening, 
you cannot pass along the streets without meeting 
groups of young men and boys in a state of partial 
inebriation, sauntering from one of these establish¬ 
ments to another. It is affecting to see what numbers 
of our youth are, in this way, hastening to disgrace 
and ruin, each one, perhaps, drawing a cluster of 
broken hearts in his train. — On the proper remedy 
for this frightful evil, opinions are divided. All are 
agreed — all, certainly, who are not implicated in its 
pecuniary profits — that it ought to be abated. Some 
would rely upon moral means only. Others would 
invoke legislation. There is no reason apparent, why 
the same legislative power which has opened this 
flood-gate of vice upon society, should not be exerted 
to close it. Nor should any distrust of the wisdom, 
the constitutionality, or the efficacy, of one proposed 
set of enactments, preclude other statutes which would 


244 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

be open to no valid objection. I shall not be drawn 
into a discussion here of specific prohibitory measures. 
I will give no adversary an opportunity to declaim 
about “sumptuary laws,” “oppression,” “tyranny,” 
“persecution,” and the like. I stand upon higher 
and broader ground — upon the ground occupied, as 
I suppose, by the great mass of intelligent and re¬ 
spectable citizens in this community, of all trades and 
professions, of all faiths and forms. With all these, 
I maintain, that the existing license-system is a dis¬ 
grace to the statute-book; that it is at war with the 
best interests of society; that its legitimate tendency 
is to promote pauperism and crime; that it is de¬ 
bauching the morals of our youth, and hurrying them 
to premature and dishonoured graves ; that while it 
is killing men’s bodies, it is destroying their souls; 
and that on these and many other grounds, it ought 
to be thoroughly revised and made tenfold more 
stringent. Very far am I from supposing that this 
alone would exterminate intemperance. But a suit¬ 
able law — such a law as should be satisfactory, not 
to people of extreme views, if any such there are, but 
to the most considerate and liberal-minded of our 
citizens — could not fail to check the progress of this 
gigantic evil, and relieve us of a part of its intolerable 
burdens. This is the demand we make of our legis¬ 
lators. I make it as a Christian pastor, whose office 


DEMAND FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 245 


it is, in however humble a way, to seek the social and 
moral well-being of the community. And you make 
it, Gentlemen, (for I cannot err in believing that we 
are at one on this point,) not only as individual citi¬ 
zens, hut as the guardians of a vast body of young 
men whose morals are in jeopardy every hour from 
this legalized system for making drunkards. If we 
cannot stand together upon this ground, if we are 
not agreed in pronouncing this a fit subject for legis¬ 
lative and judicial action, I know of no platform on 
which the humane and moral portion of society can 
meet together to petition for the redress of any social 
grievance whatever. 

I may appear to you to have wandered from my 
subject. But, certainly, every word of this seeming 
digression, is adapted to warn the young men in our 
Counting-Houses of the snares which are spread for 
them. In all ordinary cases, you may date the ruin 
of a youth from the period when he begins to frequent 
one of these tippling-shops. For if he begins here, 
he will not end here. The vices are gregarious. The 
“ gin-palace,” the Sunday-drive, the theatre, and sen¬ 
sual pleasure, though not inseparable, are usually 
linked together. The passions which any one of them 
gratifies, will be apt to court indulgence in the others. 
The principles undermined by one, are damaged by 
all. To surrender to one, is to throw down your 
21 * 


246 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

ramparts and open your gates to the remainder. 
The merchant who sends jom into these scenes to 
find business for him, need not be surprised, if after 
a few years he has to dismiss you because you are 
unfit to do business. The clerk who frequents them 
spontaneously, may with still greater certainty lay 
his account for an early discharge. By far other 
means than these corrupting amusements, are young 
men to be trained to the toils and the rewards of 
honourable commerce. 

Nor can I refrain here from addressing a word of 
remonstrance to those country merchants who are in 
the habit of accompanying our young men into scenes 
of vice or of drinking wine with them. If any such 
were within the reach of my voice, I would say to 
them — Reflect for a moment on the course you are 
pursuing. These young men are, most of them, 
absent from their homes. They are sent here to 
earn a support and to acquire a knowledge of busi¬ 
ness. Many of them are without pecuniary resources 
or influential friends. Character is everything to 
them. Even those who have property are dependent, 
under God, on the reputation they establish for in¬ 
tegrity, sobriety, diligence, and capacity. To corrupt 
their morals, is to ruin them. When their principles 
give way, their prospects for life are blasted. Their 
employers will discharge them, and they will be thrown 


APPEAL TO COUNTRY MERCHANTS. 


247 


upon the world as adventurers and outcasts. You 
would not willingly be accessory to their destruction. 
You wish them to become upright and successful mer¬ 
chants, an ornament, not a disgrace, to their families. 
And yet, what are you doing ? You allow them to 
‘‘ treat” you. You accept their invitations to the 
theatre, to go on a a Sunday Excursion,” possibly to 
visit a gambling-house, or worse places. Is not this 
to ensnare and deprave them? But, “it is their own 
proposal,” you may say. What then ? Are you 
bound to accede to it ? If they are already disposed 
to go astray — if they have actually entered upon the 
downward way — that enhances your obligation to 
refuse their overtures. If you comply, you accelerate 
their ruin. If you decline not only, but remonstrate 
and admonish them of their danger, you may “ save 
a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.” 
Deal with them as you would have others deal, in 
similar circumstances, with your own sons or brothers. 
You purchase pleasure at too dear a rate, when it 
costs the reputation, the virtue, the prospects, per¬ 
haps the eternal well-being, of a fellow - creature. 
Thousands of clerks have been destroyed in this way: 
when inquisition is made for their blood at the last 
day, see that it be not found upon your heads! 

These remarks on certain kinds of amusements, 
are made with the more confidence, because the clerks 


248 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


in our cities can never want for means of innocent 
relaxation. There are always open Exhibitions of 
various sorts which combine instruction and enter¬ 
tainment. There are Evening Lectures, and Gal¬ 
leries of Paintings. There is social visiting, with its 
refining influence upon the mind and manners. There 
are the public Libraries; especially the Institutions 
provided for the express benefit of mercantile men, 
and whose well-stocked shelves and spacious reading- 
rooms open to them a source of elevated and inex¬ 
haustible enjoyment. — Surely there is something 
wrong with the clerk who, in the midst of scenes like 
these, can find no way of consuming his few leisure 
hours, without resorting to demoralizing amusements. 

There is another topic of vital importance to clerks, 
as well as merchants, which I had intended to con¬ 
sider at some length; but this would quite exhaust 
your patience. I refer to Partnerships. I will 
simply refer to the two mistakes which young men 
are most apt to commit on this subject. The first, is 
that of entering into a copartnership prematurely. 
Impatience and ambition are common characteristics 
of youth ; and they show themselves, in your depart¬ 
ment of life, in an unwise haste to assume the respon¬ 
sibilities of business. A more thorough training 
would insure a wiser and safer control. The best 


PARTNERSHIPS. 


249 


captains are those who have seen most service before 
the mast. It is natural for a clerk to feel flattered 
by the proposal to exchange his subordinate position 
for a place in the firm, and his salary for a partici¬ 
pation in the profits. “ These are generally advan¬ 
tageous offers, designed simply to reward assiduous 
industry, to attach a valuable assistant, or to lay hold 
of useful business connections. But they are too 
often accepted with the impatient eagerness of youth, 
showing off the spirit of the young horse, feeling his 
strength, activity, and fire, panting and neighing for 
the dangers of the field, without the training for its 
duties or a knowledge of its dangers. Such offers 
are often embraced because the youth would feel him¬ 
self beginning business, interested in the profits; be¬ 
cause he wishes, in his moments of vanity, to boast 
among his companions of being a member of such a 
great house. He may he induced, too, by motives 
the most generous, involving the bettering of the 
condition of a dependent mother, sisters, or wife. 
Thousands of motives — not even suspicious and 
adapted to his every virtue and every vice — recom¬ 
mend his acceptance of such offers. Let him, how¬ 
ever, examine well his steps. Let him judge without 
illusion. Let him here remember that he becomes a 
partner so far as that relation can be disastrous, 
while he may in fact be a mere clerk so far as it 


250 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


might be advantageous. Such offers are not to be 
lightly declined, nor suspiciously received, but they 
are to be coolly considered: and here the wisdom of 
age, the advice of cautious friends, become indispen¬ 
sable guides; and patience, not to be too eager to 
get rich, a necessary virtue. Such offers are very 
often openings to wealth, character, and influence; 
also are they sometimes avenues in early life to irre¬ 
trievable ruin.”* 

Let these judicious counsels suffice as to the first 
point adverted to. The second error common with 
young men, is that of forming partnerships with un¬ 
suitable persons. We see this continually in matri¬ 
monial alliances. People are joined together whose 
characters and tastes have so little congruity, that 
every body around is from the outset predicting trou¬ 
ble : and these are among the few uninspired prophe¬ 
cies which are apt to be fulfilled. Similar mistakes 
in business would be less frequent, if parties duly 
considered the very delicate and confidential nature 
of a copartnership. Except in the case of “ special 
partners,” for which the wise legislation of modern 
.times has made provision, the power you confer upon 
your associate, is “nothing less than a power to ruin 
you.” All your pecuniary interests are entrusted to 
his ha&ds. He can speedily make an insolvent of 


* Daniel Lord, Jun., Esquire. 



UNDESIRABLE ASSOCIATES. 


251 


you, and reduce your family to beggary. He may 
be a visionary man, who will plunge into one wild 
project after another. He may be an imperious man, 
who will treat you, not as an equal, but as a servant. 
He may be an obstinate man, so set in his way, that 
neither argument nor entreaty will make any impres¬ 
sion upon him. He may be an irritable man, or, what 
is still worse, a sullen man, who, if disturbed in his 
temper, will go about with a lowering countenance, 
like a spoiled child, for a whole day or week. He 
may be a proud man, who will feel himself above do¬ 
ing things which may be essential to the prosperity 
of the firm, and which other merchants do without 
any sense of humiliation. He may be an idle man, 
who will leave you to do the work while he drives out 
with a “fast horse” in business hours, or roams over 
the country in quest of pleasure. He may be an 
extravagant man, who will impair the means and 
injure the credit of the house, by his luxurious style 
of living. He may be an avaricious man, who will 
mortify and vex you beyond measure, with his at¬ 
tempts at a sordid economy, and his penurious hig¬ 
gling with clerks, porters, and every body who has 
any transactions with him. He may be an ignorant 
man, who will purchase cotton to ship to Mobile, or 
oil to send to New Bedford.* He may be a dissi- 


* It is not every venture of this class which turns out as 




252 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


pated man, who will secretly gamble at cards and 
billiards; or a grasping man, who will still more 
secretly gamble in stocks. He may be a dishonest 
man, who will filch away your property, break 
down the concern, and retire on a fortune. — These 
are but samples. The catalogue might be largely 
extended: but this list may suffice to convince you 
that there is some reason for care and caution in 
choosing as well a business-mate as a mate for life. 
A partnership lightly formed may move on pleasantly 
for a time. But commerce has its honey-moon no 
less than matrimony; and it is well in both relations 
to consider beforehand, how the mechanism will work 
when days of darkness and peril come. Sagacious 
observers have conjectured, nay some satirists (disap¬ 
pointed celibates no doubt) have ventured to assert, 
that the more intimate of these alliances is sometimes 
marred by very unconjugal disputations. Without 
pausing to refute this ungenerous calumny, it is safe 
to assume, that the ill-assorted unions of mercantile 
life, must occasionally convert the counting-room or 
the commercial parlour, into t£n arena of painful con¬ 
troversy. Perhaps no precaution can guard against 

well as that famous one of a late opulent Boston merchant, 
whose cargo of warming-pans shipped to the West Indies, 
supplied the planters with capital ladles for their sugar- 
houses. 

fa t lb, LUi 





THE FRIENDSHIPS OF COMMERCE. 


253 


contingencies of this sort. But they would seldom 
occur if parties should take pains to Icnoiu each other 
well before yoking together: — and if (it may be 
added) the articles of agreement should prescribe 
with an unambiguous explicitness, how they were to 
become unyoked , and what should be done with the 
assets in case of misfortune or embarrassment. Proper 
attention to these points has made many copartner¬ 
ships a source of great social enjoyment and a bond 
of lasting friendship. It is, indeed, refreshing to 
find, in this region so little adapted to the sentiment 
and poetry of life, instances of a noble and ardent 
attachment decorating the rigours of an expanded 
traffic, and maturing in strength and beauty amidst 
the cares of a great commercial establishment. Such 
examples take one’s thoughts into those lofty Alpine 
regions, where the traveller sees, here and there, 
majestic forest-trees whose spreading branches and 
exuberant foliage contrast strangely with the savage 
rocks and glaciers all around. They impart a certain 
dignity to trade, and keep alive in liberal minds that 
respect for it which there is so much in the current 
usages and developments of business to impair. Let 
your copartnerships be formed upon this liberal basis, 
and fostered in this spirit, and they will yield you 
peace and honour, where they might otherwise put a 
cup of gall and wormwood to your lips. 

22 


254 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


A single suggestion more, and I have done. You 
may adopt all the measures commended to you in 
this Lecture, in respect to your training, your habits, 
your social arrangements, your mercantile plans, and 
yet lie open to the friendly reproach once addressed 
to a young man as blameless and as lovely as the 
best among you — “One thing thou lackest!” What 
can all these precautions and efforts do for you with¬ 
out the blessing of God ? Guard you, perhaps, from 
premature ruin; secure you the esteem and confidence 
of your fellow-men; possibly load you with wealth. 
But you will have lived to little purpose, if you have 
lived “ without God in the world.” Your earliest, 
greatest, most constant, most lasting, necessity, is, 
the favour of God. It is to be obtained only through 
the atonement and mediation of Jesus Christ. If 
you are already immersed in the cares of business, 
his friendship will do more than anything else to 
shield you from its snares. If you are standing at 
the threshold of a business-life, every consideration 
of duty, of gratitude, and of interest, bids you sup¬ 
plicate his mercy, and invoke his aid in the framing 
of your plans. Whatever your age, position, or em¬ 
ployment, the exhortation comes to you with equal 
authority and wisdom — “ Seek first the kingdom of 
God and His righteousness, and all other things 
shall be added unto you.” 


A COMPLAINT. 


255 



Xulmt dMgjjtfi. 

DOMESTIC LIFE, AND LITERARY CULTURE, OF THE 
MAN OF BUSINESS. 

In an old number of the Merchants’ Magazine, 
there is a communication headed, “ Complaint of a 
Merchant’s Wife,” the writer of which, after pro¬ 
testing against the u unnatural, slavish devotion to 
business,” which characterizes the merchants of the 
present day, discourses in the following strain: — 

“ It seems to me, at times, as if there were no more men 
left in the world: they have all become citizens. Their 
humanity seems merged in some presidency or secretaryship. 
They are good trustees, directors, cashiers, bankers : but 
they are very indifferent husbands and fathers. They are 
utterly without social chat; they read no pleasant books, 
they hate the sound of music; they visit nobody; they 
scarcely deign to look at the face of nature; and for their 
unhappy wives, they must put up with cold looks and cold 
words. This is all wrong, Gentlemen. It is a sad perversion 
of life ; it is cruelly unjust to us and our daughters; and it 
is the too certain source of deep and lasting misery to those 


256 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


who indulge in it. Home is no longer the garden of the 
heart, watched over by love, its roses kept in perennial 
bloom; but thorns and briers cumber its beauty. But I feel 
this matter too deeply to speak in metaphors. My own do¬ 
mestic circle is fast losing its charms, and becoming more 
dismal and formal than a hotel. I am beginning to lose all 
pride in my household. I am growing daily more unsociable. 
My health and temper are both giving way. In a word, I 
bitterly feel and lament the want of that sympathy and com¬ 
munion of heart, which are so liberally promised us in the 
marriage-vow. Come, then, Messrs. Editors, to our relief. 
Here is a cause worthy of your pens. Exhort, frighten, ridi¬ 
cule, if you can, our erring husbands into a return to their 
allegiance, and to a more rational and happy life.” 

I can well imagine with what a zest the merchants* 
wives and daughters who may he present, will listen 
to this earnest and intrepid appeal. Whatever else 
in these discussions may have been dry and distaste¬ 
ful to them, this will have their commendation: they 
will be ready to exclaim with a common impulse, “A 
word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver.” I could wish it were in my power to de¬ 
fend the tribes of commerce from these grave impu¬ 
tations. They have assaults enough to hear from 
other quarters, without encountering volleys of arrows 
(tipped with anything but poison , however) from their 
own castles. But historic verity demands a qualified 
admission of the truth of these allegations. It must 


A REPLICATION. 


257 


be conceded that the “men” have, to a great extent, 
been transubstantiated into “ citizens,” the husbands 
and fathers into merchants, the wives, though wives 
still, into widows, and the children, though not father¬ 
less, into orphans. — But let us hear before we con¬ 
demn. 

You will urge, in arrest of judgment, that “the 
modern methods of business render this abandonment 
of your homes unavoidable: that the very processes 
detailed in this course of Lectures, show how impera¬ 
tive and exclusive are the claims of commerce upon 
the men engaged in it: that the least intermission of 
vigilance and activity on your part, must involve you 
in losses: that a mode of life which severs you from 
your domicils, is not your choice, but your rigorous 
necessity: and that when the inconveniences experi¬ 
enced by your families, are compared with the hard¬ 
ships they would ultimately suffer should you neglect 
your business to attend to them, you will be deemed 
more worthy of praise than of censure for the self- 
denial you are practising.”—Even the wives and 
daughters must allow that this is an ingenious plea; 
and parties more disinterested, will feel that it has 
real force. Within certain limitations, it is impreg¬ 
nable : but, then, it is those unheeded limitations, 
which impart weight and pungency to such “ Com¬ 
plaints” as that we have quoted. 


258 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

It may turn out, for example, that the alleged ab¬ 
sorbing demands of merchandize are restricted to 
certain portions of the year, and that at other periods 
there is no invincible necessity laid upon you to be 
such strangers at your own firesides. With the 
greater part of the merchants in our large cities, 
business, instead of being diffused over the year, comes 
in two mighty torrents or avalanches, of a few weeks 
or months each. While these last, they have no 
resource but to surrender themselves, body and soul, 
to traffic. They have no time for domestic enjoy¬ 
ments. Books, friends, visiting, correspondence, every¬ 
thing must give way. Even the essential functions 
of eating and sleeping are dwarfed into the most frag¬ 
mentary performances. Like one of Dr. Johnson’s 
over-busy characters in the Idler, whom he compares 
to the dogs of Egypt, which, when driven to the Nile 
by thirst, run as they drink for fear of the crocodiles, 
they “dine at full speed.” And long after midnight, 
the watchmen find themselves jostled by troops of 
wearied clerks and packers making their way home¬ 
ward to catch a little repose before the rising sun 
recalls them to their toil. If it were not for the 
beneficent provision of a Day op Rest, they would, 
many of them, finish in a Lunatic Asylum or an early 
grave. — For all this, there seems no help. The 
causes which are at work, no merchant, nor body of 


CLAIMS OF HOME. 


259 


merchants, can control. And it were a most unrea¬ 
sonable thing in a wife to complain of her husband 
for not neglecting his plantation in the harvest-season, 
in order to wait upon her. Let her, rather, do what 
she can to relieve him of all domestic burdens, and 
to soothe and cheer him, as many a wife knows how 
to do, under his exhausting labours. 

But these periodical excitements are followed by 
protracted calms. Not such calms as would justify 
remissness in superintending your counting-houses, 
but periods which, if managed economically, might 
leave some intervals for the domestic circle. It may 
fairly be required that these opportunities shall be 
improved; that when no paramount engagements 
supervene, your time and thoughts, no less than your 
affections, shall be given to your homes; and that 
you shall omit no practicable means for forwarding 
the education and contributing to the happiness of 
your households. It will not do to forget that the 
responsibilities which attach to the head of the family, 
are intransferable; and that while you occupy that 
position, you must be held accountable for the proper 
discharge of its duties. This consideration must at 
times press with great solemnity upon the minds of 
thoughtful men who are much separated from their 
children. The training of those children is going 
forward alike in your presence and in your absence. 


260 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


Day by day, their faculties are maturing, their prin¬ 
ciples becoming established, their habits forming, and 
their whole characters assuming the essential type 
they are to bear through life — possibly, through 
eternity. This is your trust — the most sacred, the 
most momentous, trust, God has confided to you. To 
fulfil it wisely and well, is of more importance to you 
than the acquisition of a fortune or the attainment 
of any other secular end. Nor is it within the com¬ 
pass of any human abilities to do this, unless aided 
by the Spirit of God. That source of help is, hap¬ 
pily, open to you. “ If any of you lack wisdom, let 
him ask of God, and it shall be given him.” Every 
parent who appreciates the relation, will gratefully 
avail himself of the assistance so freely tendered him 
in this delicate and difficult duty. But he will not 
rest here. The temper of mind which sends you to 
the throne of grace for succour, will put you upon 
using all the appliances within your reach, to multi¬ 
ply the attractions of home to your families, and to 
keep their affections in a fresh and healthful state. 
To do this, you will need, not only to give them as 
much of your society as you can, but to make your 
intercourse with them pleasant and improving. For 
example, it cannot fail to injure them if the whole 
burden of your conversation at home, is about busi¬ 
ness, and stocks, and money, and the like; or if they 


CAUTIONS. 


261 


see that you have no relish for any*pursuits except 
those which derive their value from dollars and cents. 
If this is to be the sum and substance of your com¬ 
panionship with them, it is of little moment that you 
hurry home from your counting-rooms to see them: 
your absence will do them no harm. Or if, again, 
you habitually carry into domestic life a fretful or an 
imperious temper, if you are lavish of harsh wrnrds or 
cross looks, it would be as well to remit the training 
of your families to other hands. Neither these, nor 
any other, practical errors on your part, will be harm¬ 
less. Such is the authority impressed upon the head¬ 
ship of the house, that your every act and word and 
look and gesture — and what you leave unsaid and 
undone, no less than what you say and do — will go 
to fashion the moral lineaments of those deathless 
beings around you. This would be a serious matter, 
if it was for this life only they were to be trained. 
But we cannot limit our parental responsibilities thus. 
Our obligations extend alike to the bodies and the 
souls of our children. And they who consider the 
difficulty of extricating one soul from the bondage of 
sin and the snares of the world, will understand some¬ 
thing of the charge involved in preparing a household 
for heaven. Surely, your children have a claim upon 
you for all the help you can afford them in combating 
the temptations of life: and it is neither generous 


262 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


nor just to withhold from the mothers that co-opera¬ 
tion they are entitled to in the education of your 
offspring. 

It is another weighty consideration bearing upon 
this point, that unless you avail yourselves of present 
opportunities, you may miss altogether that endear¬ 
ing and salutary intercourse with your families which 
I am inculcating. The period you are anticipating, 
when a discharge from business is to leave you full 
scope for the culture of domestic pleasures, may never 
arrive. How many of your contemporaries and neigh¬ 
bours have been arrested by death in the midst of 
their cares and their traffickings ! While you are 
preparing to enjoy the society of your families, the 
relentless reaper, who spares no age nor condition, 
may cut you down. At the very moment, possibly, 
when your plans have been brought to a successful 
consummation, and you are ready to begin to live , a 
vacant seat at your table may mark the transitoriness 
of all human expectations. 

Nor is this the only contingency. Should your 
life be spared, your release from business may come 
too late both as to your families and yourselves. Too 
late for them: because their training may be com¬ 
pleted. In the education of your children, it is “now, 
or never.” You may bend the sapling, but you can¬ 
not bend the oak. You may mould the clay, but you 


AFFECTIONS RUSTED. 


263 


cannot mould the pottery. Your seed will germinate 
if cast into the genial lap of Spring, but it will get 
no sustenance from the rugged bosom of Winter. If 
you mean to have any useful agency in fashioning 
the characters of those children, this is the time to 
exert it. — Your prospective season of leisure may 
come too late for yourselves. When the time arrives 
for domestic enjoyment, your domestic sympathies 
and attachments may have become so blunted, that 
you will be insusceptible of this kind of happiness. 
There are other things besides iron, which will rust 
from want of use: other attributes of humanity be¬ 
sides bone and muscle, which depend upon exercise 
for healthful vigour. A neglected home is apt to 
become an undervalued home. The bird that is long 
away from its nest, may not care to return to it. And 
it is somewhat hazardous for a man to discover that, 
after all, he can “get on” and really enjoy life, with¬ 
out being dependent upon the pure and simple plea¬ 
sures of his own fireside. The way to shun such un¬ 
toward discoveries, is to keep the flame burning 
brightly upon your domestic altars, from the time it 
is first kindled, until death; to let nothing but the 
damp of the grave extinguish or enfeeble it. To 
neglect this, is to forego the purest felicity which the 
fall has left us. Those who have practised it, have 
found that life was too short to exhaust the stores of 


264 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


elevated enjoyment bound up in the domestic consti¬ 
tution ; too fleeting for that sacred fellowship of home, 

“ So friendly to the best pursuits of man, 

Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace l” 

This is not, unhappily, as well understood as it 
ought to be. There are no adequate pains taken to 
perpetuate the freshness of early affection, and to 
cherish, as time wears on, the sentiments and habits 
which consecrate the earlier experiences of married 
life. “ A person may be highly estimable on the whole, 
nay, amiable as neighbour, friend, housemate, in short, 
in all the concentric circles of attachment, save only 
the last and inmost; and yet from how many causes 
be estranged from the highest perfection in this! 
Pride, coldness, or fastidiousness of nature, worldly 
cares, an anxious or ambitious disposition, a passion 
for display, a sullen temper, one or the other, too 
often proves £ the dead fly in the compost of spices,* 
and any one is enough to unfit it for the precious 
balm of unction. For some mighty good sort of 
people too, there is not seldom a sort of saturnine, 
or, if you will, ursine vanity, that keeps itself alive 
by sucking the paws of its own self-importance. And 
as this high sense, or rather sensation, of their own 
value, is for the most part grounded on negative 
qualities, so they have no better means of preserving 


MISERY AND HAPPINESS. 


265 


the same but by negatives, that is, by not doing or 
saying any thing that might he put down for fond, 
silly, or nonsensical, or (to use their own phrase), by 
never forgetting themselves , which some of their ac¬ 
quaintances are uncharitable enough to think the most 
worthless object they could be employed in remem¬ 
bering. The same effect is produced in thousands, by 
the too general insensibility to a very important truth; 
this, namely, that the Misery of human life is made 
up of large masses, each separated from the other by 
certain intervals. One year, the death of a child; 
years after, a failure in trade; after another longer 
or shorter interval, a daughter may have married un¬ 
happily : — in all but the singularly unfortunate, the 
integral parts that compose the sum total of the un¬ 
happiness of man’s life, are easily counted, and dis¬ 
tinctly remembered. The Happiness of life, on the 
contrary, is made up of minute fractions, the little 
soon-forgotten charities of a kiss, a smile, a kind look, 
a heartfelt compliment in the disguise of playful rail¬ 
lery, and the countless other infinitesimals of plea¬ 
surable thought and genial feeling.”* 

These suggestions will commend themselves to 
every truly cultivated mind; but it would be unsuit¬ 
able for me to enlarge on a topic so engrossing, and 


23 


* Coleridge. 



266 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

which I have had occasion to discuss at some length 
in a previous course of Lectures.* 

There is a second point pertaining to the domestic 
life of the merchant, which may claim a passing 
notice here. It is a question often agitated and vari¬ 
ously decided, “ Should a merchant consult Ms wife 
about his business ?” We cannot answer it catego¬ 
rically. It may be the misfortune of a man to have 
a wife of so giddy and trifling a character, that the 
very mention of business would be an offence to her. 
Or a wife might happen to have so many “ confiden¬ 
tial friends,” that every intimation her husband con¬ 
veyed to her of the state of his affairs, w r ould be 
gazetted far and near in the course of a day or two. 
Again, the answer must be modified by the import 
of the question. If the inquiry be, “ Shall a mer¬ 
chant confer with his wife, as with his copartners, 
about all the details of his commercial transactions V* 
the question answers itself. A woman might just as 
well annoy her husband with all the minutiae of her 
household concerns. But in the sense which the 
question usually bears, it must be answered with a 
qualified affirmative. Involving, as the matrimonial 
union does, an identity of interest and fortune, it 
seems reasonable that a wife should be kept apprized 


* “ Tiie Bible in the Family.” 



woman’s rights. 


267 


of any events in her husband’s business, having an 
important hearing upon their mutual well-being. If 
a benign Providence is bearing him on towards wealth 
and honour, why should she not share with him the 
pleasure and the gratitude it inspires? And if he 
is threatened with reverses, why should he withhold 
the knowledge of it from her who, of all human be¬ 
ings, will enter into his anxieties with the deepest 
sympathy ? The wife who has no sympathy in her 
nature, mistook her vocation when she assumed the 
bonds of wedlock: the husband who will deny a wife 
the luxury of sympathizing in his trials, has forgotten 
that memorable day when she stood up with him, a 
lovely and blushing bride, and he promised before 
God and man, to “love, honour, and cherish” her 
till death. It is a poor commentary on this vow, to 
deprive her of a privilege which, if she have true con¬ 
jugal affection, she would prize more than all his 
wealth, or all the conventional attentions he may 
lavish upon her “to be seen of men.” The country 
is just now ringing with a coarse, unseemly clamour 
about “ Womans Rights ”— a mere quarrel of cer¬ 
tain Amazons with Providence, for making them 
women instead of men. Here, however, we have an 
incontestable woman’s right, the right of a wife to 
sympathize with her husband in his joys and in his 
sorrows. A wife refused this right, may well exclaim, 


268 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

“Within the bond of marriage, tell me, 

Is it excepted I should know no secrets 
That appertain to you ? Am I yourself, 

But, as it were, in sort, or limitation ; 

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, 

And talk to you sometimes ? Dwell I but in the suburbs 
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more, 

Then am I not your wife!” 

Nor is this the only ground on which the duty may 
be urged. He knows but little of the weaker sex, 
who will venture to deny that, as a general charac¬ 
teristic, they are sagacious counsellors on practical 
matters. I may quote again* on this point, an ad¬ 
mirable observation once made to me by an eminent 
divine of our church: —“We will say nothing of the 
manner in -which that sex usually conduct an argu¬ 
ment , but the intuitive judgments of women are often 
more to be relied upon than the conclusions which we 
reach by an elaborate process of reasoning.” It may 
not suit our pride to expatiate too often in domestic 
life on this fact, but there can be no use in denying 
it, and it is only standing in our own light to refuse 
to take advantage of it. I can conceive of a mer¬ 
chant’s returning home at evening, after a day of 
profound and anxious consultation with his partners 
about a projected speculation in lands, merchandize, 


* See “ Bible in the Family,” Lecture II. 




INTUITION. 


269 


or stocks. You have ransacked your newspaper- 
files, pored over your commercial dictionaries, re¬ 
viewed your former operations, examined into your 
resources, looked abroad upon the state of the world, 
and canvassed all the agencies, political and financial, 
which are likely to influence the markets for some 
time to come, and, after hours of discussing and 
ciphering, have been obliged to postpone a decision 
till to-morrow. In this state of mind you meet your 
wife, and submit the vexed problem to her: and 
although she hears but the merest outline of it, her 
mind is instantly made up as to what you ought to 
do, and she gives you her opinion with the explicit¬ 
ness of a judge upon the bench. Or, your firm is 
in trouble. Fresh claims are pressing upon fresh 
embarrassments. You have no conception to-day 
how the notes of to-morrow are to be paid. Loans 
and discounts are becoming more difficult to negotiate. 
You have made sacrifices until you are startled at the 
chasm created in your late assets. Haunted with 
apprehensions you scarcely dare breathe to yourself, 
and oppressed with a burden which is drinking up 
your spirits, you, at length, in broken accents, lay the 
case before your wife. What is veiled in impenetrable 
darkness to your eye, is all luminous to hers. She 
sees, as by intuition, what you ought to do; and has 
the mingled courage and kindness to tell you. LTn- 
23 * 


270 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

impeded by the endless array of “ Whys” and “Where¬ 
fores,” of “Ifs” and “Hows,” which have confused 
your calculations, and unsustained, it may be, by any 
tangible series of Baconian inductions, a single spring 
has brought her to a conclusion, which she enunciates 
with as much confidence as though she had received 
it by revelation.—And in both these cases, the prob¬ 
ability is, the wives will be right. If you do not get 
the counsel you would prefer, you will get that which 
will be best for you, and which it will be unsafe not 
to follow. How many firms would this course have 
restrained from hurtful speculations! How many 
bankruptcies would it have relieved of their most 
painful features! Why, then, is it not more fre¬ 
quently adopted ? I will tell you. 

With one class of men, the reason has already been 
hinted at: they feel that it is a sort of indignity to 
consult a wife on matters of business. This is their 
department, and they are presumed to know how to 
manage it: to ask counsel of a wife, is to confess 
their insufficiency. If their pride could stoop to seek 
advice in any quarter, it would not be from a woman. 
— This feeling is not only wrong, but ridiculous. It 
proceeds on the assumption, that they are competent 
to deal with questions which, by their own admission, 
have baffled them. And it further assumes, what is 
notoriously false, that in married life all the wisdom 


TOO WISE FOR ADVICE. 


271 


and sagacity are necessarily on the side of the hus¬ 
band. A man of large and comprehensive views will 
be above these littlenesses. Such a man will have 
no fear of compromising his own dignity by conferring 
with an intelligent wife. Inferior to himself, she may 
be, in strength of mind and in information; and yet 
she may have qualities which will make her a safe 
Mentor. The most learned and acute jurists often 
derive the greatest assistance, in resolving complex 
cases, from the suggestions of their associates on the 
bench, although they may be men of only second or 
third rate talent. And the man who is above asking 
counsel of any body whom he believes to be a shade 
below himself in intellectual vigour or various know¬ 
ledge, merits the penalty Which his superciliousness 
will be sure to bring upon him. In the conjugal 
relation this is the more censurable, because the 
preponderance of character may be really with the 
“weaker vessel”; while the Solon to whom she is 
w T edded, only exposes his own imbecility in denying 
her any share in his deliberations. 

This course may be adopted from a very different 
motive — an unwillingness on the part of a merchant 
to harass the mind of his wife with his troubles. 
This is an amiable and honourable sentiment, and, to 
a certain extent, it may properly influence the con¬ 
duct. But it should not be carried too far in those 


272 THE BIBLE IN TIIE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

emergencies so often mentioned, when a house is tot¬ 
tering to its foundations. When such an exigency 
occurs, it is due to a wife that she should be apprized 
of it. This would preclude the revolting incongruity 
of which any of our cities could supply examples, of 
a commercial firm struggling on for months together 
with impending bankruptcy, while their domestic 
establishments, the while, were the centres of the 
most prodigal luxury and extravagance. It is further 
due to a wife because she is a wife, and as such must 
share her husband’s allotments. They took each 
other “ for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer” ; 
and if either is in trouble, the other is entitled to 
know it and participate in it. Nor is any other 
policy, in the cases we are considering, compatible 
with true kindness. When the blow falls, you can 
no longer conceal the state of things. Your wife will 
have to know it and to feel it. Through your mis¬ 
taken tenderness, it comes upon her suddenly, “like 
a thief in the night”: whereas, had you dealt frankly 
by her, she would have been in a measure prepared 
for the stroke. If you were to submit the question 
to ten thousand wives in succession, “ whether of these 
two courses would be the more acceptable to them,” 
you would probably hear but one response — “By all 
means let me know when there is danger threatening, 
without waiting for the calamity to fall!” —Nor must 


A FAITHFUL COUNSELLOR. 


273 


it be lost sight of, that the course here recommended, 
might either avert or mitigate the disaster. The 
timely advice of a discreet wife, might, by the bless¬ 
ing of Providence, save you from insolvency; or, 
failing of this, it might keep you from those acts 
which impart to insolvency its keenest sting. The 
observations formerly made on this subject,* show 
how important faithful counsel is to embarrassed 
merchants. This you would get from your wives. 
The thought of your poverty might be distressing to 
them, but it would be nothing to the idea of your dis¬ 
honour. Tlley would see and appreciate the danger 
to which your principles were exposed, and caution 
you, with all firmness and affection, against bringing 
the least stain upon your integrity. They would 
remind you that an untarnished name would be a 
better legacy to them and their children, than mil¬ 
lions of money. They would remonstrate against 
your postponing the crisis until all your resources 
were consumed, and encourage you to meet at once 
the blow which had become inevitable. They would, 
possibly, soothe your chafed and agitated spirits, not 
only by the assiduities of affection, but by the higher 
ministrations of a genuine piety — bringing oil and 
wine from the Gospel to cheer you, and directing 
your hopes to Him who is the Refuge of the afflicted 


* Lecture VI. 



274 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


and the Healer of the broken-hearted.—These, surely, 
are objects of some moment to a man harassed with 
commercial difficulties: a faithful adherence to a sim¬ 
ple rule of three syllables, would ordinarily secure 
them to you — Tell your wife. 

Will it be out of place to add here, that there are 
certain correlative obligations answering to these do¬ 
mestic duties of the merchant? If he is hound to 
bestow all the time he can upon his family, they are 
bound to make his home as agreeable as possible. If 
it behooves him to cultivate the household affections, 
they must not neglect it. If he is to confer with his 
wife on matters of merchandize, especially in seasons 
of embarrassment, it will not answer for the wife to 
manifest an indifference to his affairs, still less to do 
anything which may increase his difficulties. Exam¬ 
ples have no doubt occurred of conjugal officiousness, 
in which either party has been disposed to intermed¬ 
dle with the functions proper to the other — the hus¬ 
band with the “ house-keeping,” the wife with the 
counting-room. A woman may easily shun this ex¬ 
treme, and yet take that sort of interest in her hus¬ 
band’s business, which has been indirectly inculcated 
in the observations just addressed to merchants. And 
whatever her tastes may be on this point, she cannot, 
if she would, avoid having a great deal to do with his 
business. What he is in his warehouse, in his prin- 


THE PATTERN HOUSEWIFE. 


275 


ciples and plans, in his temper and manners, will 
depend very much upon what his home is. And his 
home, again, will be very much what his wife sees fit 
to make it. There are homes such as Milton had in 
his eye (his own, unhappily, was not one of them,) 
when he wrote the lines — 

“ For nothing lovelier can be found 
In woman, than to study household good, 

And good works in her husband to promote.” 

A greater than Milton had, upwards of two thousand 
years before his time, drawn the portraiture of one 
of'these very wives with the skill of a master-limner. 
It is a well-known picture, better known even than 
the most celebrated “ Madonnas” of any of the old 
painters; but as there is some disposition now-a-days 
to deposit it in the antique Galleries, as a mere his¬ 
torical gem, I feel inclined to hang it up before your 
eyes: — 

Who can find a virtuous woman ? for her price is far above 
rubies. 

The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that 
he shall have no need of spoil. 

She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. 

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her 
hands. 

She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food 
from afar. 

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her 
household, and a portion to her maidens. 


276 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of 
her hands she planteth a vineyard. 

She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her 
arms. 

She perceiveth that her merchandize is good: her candle 
goeth not out by night. 

She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold 
the distaff. 

She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth 
forth her hands to the needy. 

She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her 
household are clothed with scarlet. 

She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is 
silk and purple. 

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among 
the elders of the land. 

She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles 
unto the merchant. 

Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice 
in time to come. 

She openeth her mouth with wisdom ; and in her tongue 
is the law of kindness. 

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth 
not the bread of idleness. 

Her children arise up and call her blessed: her husband 
also, and he praiseth her. 

Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest 
them all 

Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that 
feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 

Give her of the fruit of her hands ; and let her own works 
praise her in the gates. 


A DOMESTIC WOMAN. 


277 


There is a merchant's wife worth having! An 
Oriental woman, it is true, but there is nothing in her 
essential attributes and habits which would not grace 
the Occident as well — the wives of Philadelphia and 
Boston, as those of Jerusalem and Bagdad. It is the 
picture, for example, of a domestic woman. And is 
not this meet in a merchant’s wife ? I do not mean 
that she should make her house a cloister, and never 
stir abroad. But let her know what the word Home 
means. Let her cherish it until every letter in it 
becomes precious to her. Let her understand that 
her empire is there. And let her find her happiness, 
next to religion, in administering its affairs and aug¬ 
menting the felicity of its subjects. This need not 
preclude her from the interchange of social courtesies 
and the fellowship of friends. But it will certainly 
present a life in striking contrast with that of some 
wives, whose houses are to them, from Christmas to 
Lent, very much what they are to their husbands in 
the “business-season” —mere hotels. 

This is the portrait, again, of an industrious wo¬ 
man— always occupied with her maidens or her vine¬ 
yard, her distaff or her merchandize, her in-door or 
her out-door cares. Is this unseemly in a merchant’s 
wife ? The same occupations may not demand her 
care, but useful occupation of some sort will have a 
claim upon her. That must be a strange household 
24 


278 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

which supplies the head of it with no employment: 
and that a curious scheme of life, which permits a 
woman to surrender herself to her slothful propensi¬ 
ties, and while away her years in doing nothing. In 
a very characteristic letter, poor Burns says of the 
Muses, “the Nine have given me a great deal of 
pleasure, but, bewitching jades ! they have beggared 
me: for, like Solomon’s lilies, the idle creatures i toil 
not, neither do they spin.’ ” It might be ungenerous 
to hint that there may have been merchants who were 
in circumstances to use this identical language respect¬ 
ing their wives. Certainly, a wife who will “ neither 
toil nor spin,” nor do anything, except dress and visit 
and lounge and read novels, might “ beggar” her 
husband, even though she “ gave him a great deal of 
pleasure” — and this last would not always happen, 
for it is only men that have received “one talent,” 
or a fraction of a talent, who take “pleasure” in a 
wife’s spending the same sort of life as a portrait or 
a doll. Employment is a homely but important ele¬ 
ment in the cup of domestic happiness: where either 
party lacks or neglects it, trouble is apt to follow. 
“ The field of the slothful,” find it where you will, is 
more likely to be covered with “thorns and nettles” 
than with flowers. Even the flowers of affection, the 
hardiest of all plants, will die out there, or attain 
only a stunted growth, which will make the spectator 


TASTE AND NEATNESS. 


279 


exclaim, as one does involuntarily in looking at a 
cluster of tiny Alpine roses peering through the frost, 
“ Poor things 1 ” 

Another obvious feature in the picture we are study¬ 
ing, is, taste and neatness. “ All her household are 
clothed with scarlet.* She maketh herself coverings 
of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her 
husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among 
the elders of the land” — known, not simply by his 
worth, hut by the costly robes her fingers prepare for 
him. And the whole sketch suggests the image of 
a domestic establishment impressed throughout with 
cleanliness, order, and beauty. Our merchant’s wife 
will of course understand this. If she should not, it 
will be doing her a kindness to say, that these “ tri¬ 
vial matters” are of moment with the other sex. Men 
think a great deal of neatness and taste in a wife. 
It will not satisfy them that you look very imposing 
when arrayed in your laces and jewelry for a party. 
This is well enough; but it may be more than neu¬ 
tralized by a careless attire and an untidy house in 
your-ordinary arrangements. Time will gradually 
blanch your personal charms; and there is, therefore, 
the greater reason why you should give heed to those 

* “ Scarlet” — or, rather, as the margin has it, “ double 
garments” So Coverdale — “For all hir householde folkes 
are duble clothed.” 



280 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

“ little things” in dress, and manner, and household 
dispositions, which have a wonderful, though imper¬ 
ceptible, effect in fostering mutual affection, and the 
neglect of which will be certain to eat like a subtle 
cancer at the core of your domestic peace. — This is 
not to encourage extravagance. You may be ready 
to appeal to the “tapestry” and the a silk and the 
purple,” of this model housewife, in vindication of 
your own expensive habits. But have you considered 
where she procured these elegancies ? I do not find 
that she went to her husband, and got him to draw 
some thousands of dollars from his business to pur¬ 
chase them for her. As I read the passage, they 
were her own handiwork. And I venture to express 
the opinion, that no merchant’s wife will be, or ought 
to be, impeded, in decorating her rooms with all the 
“tapestry,” or her person with all the “silk and 
purple” — which she shall weave herself. You may 
think it unreasonable to suggest this restriction; and 
perhaps it is. But it is not more so than the luxury 
and extravagance which have reduced so many mer¬ 
chants to poverty. The key to no inconsiderable 
portion of the bankruptcies which occur, is to be 
found, not in the counting-room, but in the drawing¬ 
room, and there as often in the wife’s hand, as the 
husband’s. If truth could give way to courtesy, this 
might be spared. But truth will give way to nothing; 


A GRAVE INDICTMENT. 


281 


and it is too important in this connexion to be sup¬ 
pressed. An old writer, who has given us a revela¬ 
tion of domestic life not peculiar to his own age, 
brings forward one of his characters as reproaching 
his wasteful wife with her “ change of gaudy furni¬ 
ture,” her 

-“ mighty looking-glasses, like artillery, 

Brought home on engines; the superfluous plate, 
Antique and novel; vanities of tires 

and other articles. He proceeds : — 

“ I could accuse the gayety of your wardrobe 
And prodigal embroideries, under which 
Rich satins, plushes, cloth of silver, dare 
Not show their own complexions. Your jewels, 

Able to burn out the spectator’s eyes, 

And show like bon-fires on you by the tapers. 
Something might here be spared, with safety of 
Your birth and honour, since the truest wealth 
Shines from the soul, and draws up just admirers.” 

Whether there were any merchants at the disas¬ 
trous era of ’37, who had occasion to use language 
of this kind, I shall not inquire; nor would it become 
one who is no seer, to predict whether there will be 
any at the next financial crisis which may overtake 
the country. But there are opinions abroad on both 
these points, which it might be useful to some people 
to ponder. 

24* 


282 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


The ready replication to this will be, that “it is un¬ 
generous to impute all the sin of extravagant living to 
the wives, since they are in many instances hut passive 
instruments in carrying out plans to which they are 
bound to conform.” This would do if “ all” the blame 
were laid at their door. But it is not: where no cen¬ 
sure is deserved, none is intended. It is not enough, 
however, to exonerate a wife, that she has simply 
acquiesced in a system of luxurious expenditure far 
beyond her husband’s income. It is for her gratifi¬ 
cation in a good measure, that he has gone into these 
excesses. In any event, she might have prevented 
or abridged it. Her influence, always potential at 
first, could have been exerted to induce a more rational 
and becoming style of living; and she would not have 
pressed this point in vain. But the woman who would 
do this, especially the bride who would do it, is one 
of a thousand. The prevailing passion with people 
just setting out in married life, is for a pomp and 
display wholly unsuited to their means. Young mer¬ 
chants have no conception of the drain such an estab¬ 
lishment will be upon their profits. They are apt to 
suppose that if the original outfit is provided (as it 
may be by a marriage settlement), all subsequent in¬ 
convenience is precluded; that the ship once launched 
will take care of itself. But this conceit is soon dis¬ 
pelled. What with rents and wages and wardrobe, 


HOW TO SET OUT IN LIFE. 


283 


amusements and equipage and entertainments, the 
charges to private account on the books of the firm, 
swell with an ominous progression, until the business 
itself reels under the rapid depletion, and betrays 
symptoms of an approaching syncope. If they have 
the moral courage to curtail their expenses and adjust 
themselves at once to their actual position, they may 
escape the catastrophe. But when a ship is on her 
beam-ends, the least delay may be fatal. And the 
imprudence which brings about a crisis of this sort, 
is too often combined with a pride and an effeminacy 
of principle, which will hold back from a manly, 
straight-forward discharge of duty, until the oppor¬ 
tunity is lost and the blow falls. How much better 
to have studied all these contingencies at the com¬ 
mencement ! How much better to begin with mode¬ 
ration, and end with honour and affluence; than to 
begin with splendour, and end with premature insol¬ 
vency ! If the husbands will not consider this, let 
the wives think of it. They may miss the hollow 
flatteries which circulate among the gay and the 
frivolous, but they will secure the respect of that 
portion of society whose friendship will be of real 
advantage to them. And what is of greater moment, 
they may experience the protection of that benign 
Being, who alone can crown their plans with success, 
and make their prosperity a blessing to them. 


284 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

It is another characteristic of the “ virtuous woman” 
set before ns, that “ she opens her mouth with wisdom, 
and in her tongue is the law of kindness;” and she 
makes it her business to “do her husband good , and 
not evil, all the days of her life.” “ She shows her 
love to him, not by a foolish fondness, hut by prudent 
endearments, accommodating herself to hi3 temper, 
and not crossing him, giving him good words, and 
not bad ones, no, not when he is out of humour; 
studying to make him easy, to provide what is fit for 
him both in health and sickness, and attending him 
with diligence and tenderness when any thing ails 
him; nor would she, no, not for the world, wilfully 
do anything that might he a damage to his person, 
family, estate, or reputation. And this is her care 
‘all the days of her life;’ not at first only, or now 
and then, when she is in a good humour, but perpet¬ 
ually ; and she is not weary of the good offices she 
does him. She does him good, not only all the days 
of his life, hut of her own too: if she survive him, 
•still she is doing him good in her care of his children, 
his estate, and good name, and all the concerns he 
left behind him.”* 

And herein also is she a fit pattern for our mer¬ 
chant’s wife. For the cares and perplexities of busi¬ 
ness are very great; and when men come home from 


* Matthew Henry. 




THE LAW OF KINDNESS. 


285 


their counting-rooms, jaded and oppressed with toil 
and anxiety, they need some one to speak to them 
in words of kindness and to “ do them good.” And 
it is a sad and pernicious thing if, instead of this, 
they are met with harsh tones and chilling looks, or 
have the load upon their aching hacks increased by 
a huge accession of petty domestic grievances. This 
is “in no sense meet or amiable.” 

“ Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper 
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee, 

And for thy maintenance : commits his body 
To painful labour, both by sea and land; 

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, 

While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe; 

And crafes no other tribute at thy hands, 

But love, fair looks, and true obedience: — 

Too little labour for so great a debt.” 

And to refuse even this requital, is to come short, not 
merely of conjugal duty, but of the magnanimity 
proper to your sex in general. 

It is mentioned as the crowning excellence of the 
character we are contemplating, that she “fears the 
Lord.” “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: 
but a ivoman that feareth the Lord, she shall he 
praised.” In man or woman, there is no adequate 
foundation for true and lasting esteem but this. Per¬ 
sonal beauty, which has so much to do with making 
marriages, is no infallible index of real worth, and no 


286 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


sure pledge of domestic happiness. It is exposed to 
the inroads of time, sickness, sorrow, and decay; 
and may wither at the very meridian of life. The 
“ beauty of holiness,” on the other hand, is as inde¬ 
structible as the soul itself. Earthly vicissitudes pro¬ 
duce no impression upon it. It flourishes alike in the 
shade and in the sunshine. Disease and suffering, 
trials and losses, only clothe it with fresh lustre. 
The more it is crushed, the sweeter is the fragrance 
it emits. The character it embellishes, enshrines the 
elements of the very highest style of excellence known 
to created beings. And if there is any attribute which 
is to be prized above all others, whether in single or 
in married life, it is undoubtedly genuine .religion. I 
say not that this alone will make a wife what she 
ought to be: but this is the most essential quality 
for a wife; and no assemblage of virtues and accom¬ 
plishments can compensate for the absence of it. 
Those merchants may well esteem themselves happy, 
whose homes are lighted up with the beams of a 
perennial and cheerful piety. 

It will be no very violent transition, to pass from 
the domestic life of the merchant, to his Literary 
opportunities. The subject is one of large extent; 
but it did not fall within the scope of these Lectures, 
to discuss it in detail. Some reference to it, however, 


LITERARY OPPORTUNITIES OF MERCHANTS. 287 

especially as it may be connected with the morals of 
trade, will be deemed indispensable. 

In the glimpses we have just had of a merchant’s 
household, as it should be, one of the scenes which 
must have passed before the eye of every auditor, is 
that of the man of commerce enjoying an occasional 
hour with the great authors in his Library, or seated, 
book-in-hand, with his family around the centre-table. 
This is a refreshing sight. It is worthy to be pon¬ 
dered by the restless throng of traffickers who have 
gradually repudiated all books except Journals and 
Ledgers, and by the crowds of young men who are 
just embarking in a mercantile career. There are 
those, it may be, in whose breasts the scene would 
only excite emotions of contempt. il Practical men,” 
as they are termed, are apt to despise “ book-learn¬ 
ing.” It was one of these sages, who, having adver¬ 
tised for a clerk, asked each applicant, as he appeared, 
“ whether he understood Latin,” and on receiving an 
affirmative answer, dismissed him without further in¬ 
quiry. The feeling is, that “ learning” tends to dis¬ 
qualify a person for business, that it makes him 
speculative and “ notional,” and blunts his wits for 
scenting out customers and driving bargains. Exam¬ 
ples are readily cited, of illiterate individuals who 
were celebrated for their shrewdness, and made great 
fortunes. And “ if they got rich without books, books 


288 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

would be more of a hindrance than a help, to others 
who are aiming at the same end.”—This is merchan¬ 
dize with a witness. The loftiest conception of hu¬ 
man life these people are capable of forming, is that 
of a machine for making money. The nobler part 
of their nature is not recognized in their theory. 
They seem not to know that they have souls. They 
scarcely know that they are endowed with reason. 
Certainly they ignore all the higher functions and 
uses of reason, and degrade it, as far as possible, to 
the level of the better sort of brutes. I disparage 
not a business-life. I look with no disfavour upon 
legitimate accumulation. I greatly honour the man 
who secures, by honest means, a competent or opu¬ 
lent estate, and employs it in doing good. But look 
at man, the crown and glory of this lower creation, 
the wondrous mechanism of his frame, the more won¬ 
drous mechanism of his mind, his capacious intellect, 
his imagination, his conscience, his immortality, and 
say whether the end, the paramount end, for which 
he was sent into this world, was, “ to buy and sell 
and get gain !” Nature, if she were allowed to speak, 
would rebuke this sordid theory. She would tell you 
that you were enslaving the understanding to the 
senses, the man to the animal. She would remon¬ 
strate against your setting earth above heaven, and 
time before eternity. She would remind you that 


CRAMPING TENDENCIES OE TRADE. 


289 


your trafficking must in any event be abandoned, and 
your gold and silver relinquished after a few days or 
years, and that if all your training and your happi¬ 
ness were summed up in hoarding, you would be 
miserably unprovided for a world where trade and 
its implements are unknown. And she would admon¬ 
ish you, that these faculties, the culture of which you 
now hold in such contempt, would constitute an es¬ 
sential part of your being for ever, and be a perpetual 
means of the purest enjoyment or of the keenest 
suffering, according to your treatment of them here. 

It is, in fact, the tendency of trade to cramp the 
intellect and inspire these mercenary views, which 
makes it proper even for the pulpit to protest against 
your neglect of liberal studies. The learned profes¬ 
sions are not exempt from this bias. An exclusive 
devotion to any one of them, will make a narrow, 
stereotype character, vigorous, perhaps, in certain 
faculties, but deficient in that amplitude and sym¬ 
metry which belong to truly great minds. And in 
your avocation, the danger from this source, is, for 
obvious reasons, much more imminent. If this con¬ 
sideration were without force, the prejudice against 
literary studies, more or less prevalent in your ranks, 
might be refuted on strictly commercial grounds. For 
there is no kind of knowledge which may not be use¬ 
ful to a merchant in a pecuniary way. The man 
25 


290 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


who is conducting an extensive business, should be at 
home in the history, geography, and politics, of the 
leading nations of the globe. He should be familiar 
with the staple products of every clime, with the prin¬ 
ciples of political economy and finance, with revenue 
and quarantine laws, with the commercial usages of 
different countries and their modes of intercommuni¬ 
cation, with the manufacturing processes pertaining 
to his own branch of traffic, with the adaptation of 
various articles to land and marine transportation, and 
with the moral traits of every people whose ports his 
ships may visit. I know an earnest and accomplished 
scholar who has said in one of his books, that if he 
could learn how the topmost stone on Chimborazo lay, 
he would deem it an item of information worth pos¬ 
sessing. A merchant should, in the same spirit, pick 
up knowledge in every direction and on all subjects. 
He must “ sow beside all watersfor he cannot tell 
what he may want. There is a story told of a young 
man who, when at a university, refused to attend lec¬ 
tures on Euclid, because he was a man of fortune, 
and never likely to become a carpenter! And no¬ 
thing is more common than for college-students to 
proceed upon the same vicious principle, picking and 
culling among the studies, so as to confine themselves 
to such as will be of service to them in after-life — 
an error for which “ after-life” often makes them pay 


ADVANTAGES OP SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE. 291 


very dearly. — Superior knowledge would give you 
an advantage over competitors; and save you from 
those disastrous mistakes into which firms are so often 
led by a blind confidence. It would help to guard 
you against disasters: and if disasters came, it w T ould 
assist you in retrieving your losses, or in turning your 
attention to some new avocation. It would enhance 
your personal influence in the community. “ Know¬ 
ledge is power.” The very capitalists who affect to 
despise it, are made to feel this, when they contrast 
the respect which is paid, in commercial circles, to a 
really intelligent merchant, with the mere ceremonious 
homage rendered (not to themselves, but) to their 
wealth. — On strictly professional grounds, then — 
on the scale of dollars and cents — it becomes mer¬ 
chants to “ give attention to reading.” 

In our day this has become more important than 
ever, by reason of the general diffusion of knowledge. 
Education is no longer the prerogative of the great. 
It has put off its purple robes and silver slippers, and 
come down to tabernacle with the masses. The world 
is waking up to the pregnant fact, that man is com¬ 
posed of something besides bone and muscle. The 
universal clamour is for “ Education.” The labour¬ 
ing classes are still willing to work, but they are not 
willing to be mere spinning-jennies and dredging- 
machines. And science, with a noble philanthropy 


292 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


which outshines all the jewels in its radiant coronet, 
is stooping to their necessities, and popularizing itself 
to satisfy these passionate cravings of humanity. 
This movement is too broad and too powerful for any 
class or profession not to he affected by it. It has 
told upon the forum and upon the pulpit, as well upon 
the politics and the jurisprudence of the world, as 
upon its literature and its “socialism.” The com¬ 
mercial body cannot, if they would, escape its influ¬ 
ence. If merchants will not fall in with it, it will 
leave them high and dry upon the shoals of ignor¬ 
ance, a warning and a by-word to the crowds who 
sweep past them in the eager strife for knowledge. 
Nor will it suffice that you set out with an education. 
It is as indispensable to feed the mind as the body. 
You might as well expect the meals of to-day to keep 
up your physical strength and elasticity for a fort¬ 
night to come, as to rely upon your original stock of 
ideas to nourish your intellectual faculties through the 
rest of your life. Men often try this — merchants, 
perhaps, oftener than any others — and you know 
how they succeed. You must have seen specimens 
of the sort — individuals who have trafficked for a 
score or two of years on their primitive stock of 
ideas; reading no useful hooks, shunning all public 
discussions and lectures, making no efficient use of 
their powers of observation, adding nothing to their 


PROSERS. 


293 


modicum of information except, as a sponge gathers 
moisture from the atmosphere, by unavoidable ab¬ 
sorption, and for ever harping upon one string, and 
pestering all companies on all occasions with the same 
petrified topics : — why, what is this better than 
heading pins for a life-time, or harnessing one’s self 
to the horse who is doomed to the endless gyrations 
of a bark-mill ? This is no life for a human being, 
certainly not for one who aspires to a respectable 
place in society and expects to be the companion of 
cultivated men. And the only way to elude it, is, to 
keep pouring truth into the mind, and recruiting its 
stock of ideas from every available source. Truth is 
the soul’s aliment, and it is a worse crime against 
nature to starve the soul, than to famish the body. 
“ It is not the mere cry of moralists and the flourish 
of rhetoricians; but it is noble to seek truth, and it 
is beautiful to find it. It is the ancient feeling of 
the human heart,—that knowledge is better than 
riches; and it is deeply and sacredly true / To 
mark the course of human passions as they have 
flowed on in the ages that are past; to see why na¬ 
tions have risen and why they have fallen; to speak 
of heat and light and winds; to know what man has 
discovered in the heavens above, and in the earth be¬ 
neath; to hear the chemist unfold the marvellous 
properties that the Creator has locked up in a speck 
25 * 


294 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

of earth; to he told that there are worlds so distant 
from our sun, that the quickness of light travelling 
from the world’s creation, has never yet reached us; 
to wander in the creations of poetry, and grow warm 
again with that eloquence which swayed the democ¬ 
racies of the old world; to go up with great reasoners 
to the First Cause of all, and to perceive in the 
midst of all this dissolution, and decay, and cruel 
separation, that there is one thing unchangeable, in¬ 
destructible, and everlasting; — it is worth while in 
the days of our youth to strive hard for this great 
discipline; to pass sleepless nights for it, to give up 
to it laborious days; to spurn for it present pleasures; 
to endure for it afflicting poverty; to wade for it 
through darkness and sorrow and contempt, as the 
great spirits of the world have done in all ages and 
all times.” 

“ All this,” I can fancy I hear some of my auditors 
saying to themselves, “ is very true and very fine: 
but why tantalize us in this way? We are over¬ 
tasked now: how is it possible for us to find time for 
reading?” This question is fairly put, and shall be 
as fairly answered. 

I should be extremely sorry to have the merchants 
or clerks before me suppose, that I am insensible to 
the disadvantages they labour under in repect to 
literary culture. At certain seasons of the year, 


OCTAVOS IN MARCH. 


295 


particularly, to exhort them to reading, would be 
about as rational as to ask them to fly. It would be 
worth while, for example, to see the look with which 
a corps of clerks in one of our jobbing-houses, would 
receive a philanthropic citizen who, on any day of 
this coming week , should make his way into their 
establishment through draymen and porters and coop¬ 
ers and packers and messengers, and the throng of 
impatient customers from the “far West” and the 
far South and all the sub-cardinal points between, 
and blandly request them “ to peruse the very inte¬ 
resting and valuable” octavo he might tender to them. 
I am sure they would say nothing rude in reply to 
him. The ludicrousness of the thing would banish 
every harsh feeling, and light up their shrewd and 
care-worn faces with a smile of blended astonishment 
and incredulity which would at least do them good, 
even if it failed to enlighten their benevolent visitor. 
But March does not take up the whole Calendar. 
You are no more buried amongst bales and boxes 
during the entire year, than is the husbandman em¬ 
ployed from January to December in harvesting his 
crops. During most of the months, a just sense of 
the value of time, combined with a well-arranged 
system , would secure you frequent opportunities for 
study. You may not think so if you consult simply 
your present habits, or inquire of your associates and 


296 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

neighbours. But go, when you have a breathing- 
spell, to that noble monument of Christian philan¬ 
thropy, the “ Institution fob, the Blind,” in the 
north-western part of our city, and learn whether your 
path up the hill of science, is a rougher one, than that 
which these children, who dwell in perpetual dark¬ 
ness, are treading with so elastic a step. Or, take 
up the volumes entitled, “ The Puksuit of Know¬ 
ledge under Difficulties,” and see what was 
accomplished by Arkwright and Ferguson, Saunder- 
son and Heyne, Franklin and Fulton, and hosts of 
others whose names shine in the glorious galaxy of 
self-made men. If they did, why may not you? 
There can be few among the young men in our 
Counting-Houses, whose situation in respect to intel¬ 
lectual improvement, is not superior to that of any 
one of the six individuals just mentioned in their early 
days. One great secret of their success lay in the 
profound art of economizing time. You have stood, 
doubtless, by one of the ingenious machines in our 
Mint, and seen the brilliant and beautiful coin drop¬ 
ping into the receiver at the rate of a hundred to the 
minute, and your feeling has been, “How happy 
should I be if I could coin money for myself at this 
rate !” But you are all coiners — and that, of some¬ 
thing which might be worth more to you than all the 
deposits at the Mint. Every fleeting second receives 


THE INDESTRUCTIBLE COINAGE. 


297 


from you a brand more indelible than any which the 
die imparts to the metal; and if you are careful to 
have every impression what it should be, you will, in 
the end, be richer in intellectual and moral wealth 
than Croesus ever was in the gold that perisheth. It 
was by taking care of these seconds, “ the gold dust 
of time,” that the men we have named and their fel¬ 
lows, rose to eminence and honour. I have styled 
this “a profound art,” and so it is. Not one in a 
thousand understands it. Franklin himself declares 
that in carrying out his curious scheme for “ arriving 
at moral perfection,” his rule of Order , which ran 
thus, “ Let all your things have their places: let each 
part of your business have its time,” gave him more 
trouble than any other part of it. By perseverance, 
however, he mastered it in some good degree; and 
we may all do the same. 

Many of those who imagine that they cannot pos¬ 
sibly find leisure for useful books, actually devote a 
great deal of time to certain kinds of reading. It is 
one of the incidental results of the science and enter¬ 
prise of the day, that our country is flooded with a 
“ cheap literature,” native and exotic, no small por¬ 
tion of which is very trashy or very pernicious. 
Young men are apt to resort to publications of this 
sort for pastime. The latest French or German novel 
(pamphlet edition, double column, and miserable pa* 


298 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

per), or the last volume of “ Capital Trials” or “ Aw¬ 
ful Murders,” might be found lying upon the small 
table in their dormitory, or tucked away on one of 
the shelves of the warehouse, to be devoured by 
snatches when the principals “ are not about.” As 
a natural consequence, they have no relish for sub¬ 
stantial reading. The palate pampered on highly- 
seasoned dishes, revolts at simple and nutritious food. 
The more the imagination is indulged with these 
stimulating doses, the stronger will be its cravings. 
It is a well-authenticated fact, that “ the inveterate 
thieves of London make it a practice to attend all the 
executions, not so much for an opportunity of picking 
pockets, as for the pleasure of excitement, which, 
through the very exciting nature of their lawless pur¬ 
suits, they become incapable of deriving from any 
ordinary source.” And on the same principle, a 
mind accustomed to such reading as has been referred 
to, will collapse unless supplied with overwrought nar¬ 
ratives and extravagant fictions. 

But light literature has an accomplice, which must 
also be arraigned here. Dr. Franklin, in writing 
from Philadelphia to the Bishop of St. Asaph, in 
1786, complains that “ the reading-time of most peo¬ 
ple was so taken up with Newspapers and periodical 
pamphlets, that few now-a-days ventured to attempt 
any solid reading.” So far as I have been able to 


NEWSPAPERS. 


299 


ascertain, there were at that period printed in Phila¬ 
delphia, two small weekly newspapers, and one daily, 
commenced two years before. I think it must have 
been this last paper, the “Pennsylvania Packet,” 
(which finally ripened into that sedate, time-honoured 
journal, “ Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser,”) 
that did the mischief the venerable sage so feelingly 
deplores. However that may have been, if the news¬ 
paper press of that day laid itself open to this grave 
censure, what must be said of it now? — This is deli¬ 
cate ground. Who stands upon so proud an eminence 
that he can rebuke his neighbours for their devotion to 
the newspaper, without exposing himself to the retort 
— “Physician, heal thyself!” I frankly confess, 
not I. My house is of glass, I fear very thin glass, 
and it is not safe for the tenant to be too forward in 
throwing stones. There are few bills I pay more 
cheerfully, than those for my newspapers. 

“ This folio of four pages, happy work! 

Which not ev’n critics criticise; that holds 
Inquisitive attention, while I read, 

Fast bound in chains of silence, which the fair, 
Though eloquent themselves, yet fear to break; 
What is it but a map of busy life, 

Its fluctuations and its vast concerns?” 

And yet I cannot in my heart approve of the pre¬ 
vailing passion for newspapers : nor endorse at all 


300 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the common plea of mercantile men that they have 
“ no time for hooks.” In particular cases, this is no 
doubt true. But look at one of these gentlemen as 
he goes home to his tea: what is that huge roll in 
his hand or projecting from his surtout pocket? 
Newspapers. And if it happen to be a Friday or 
Saturday evening, when the “ Weeklies” are super- 
added to the “Dailies,” he will have typography 
enough in his parcel to make a large octavo volume 
or a pair of them. And what is more, he will go 
through with it. This “very busy” merchant, wdio 
is so oppressed with care that he has not “ a moment’s 
time for reading,” will travel through one folio page 
after another until he has mastered the contents of 
his entire pacquet. Not satisfied with the articles 
pertaining to commerce, and a general survey of the 
affairs of the world, he has acquired a sort of morbid 
taste for the endless miscellany that makes up an 
ordinary journal, even down to the “ Police Reports,” 
the broken arms, the collisions of omnibuses, the “ac¬ 
cidents” in distant cities, the state of the “ weather” 
on the other side of the globe, and, w T hen these items 
are exhausted, the “Lost and Found” and other 
weighty matters in the advertising columns. Now, I 
will not retract the sentiment, that “ knowledge of 
every kind may be useful,” but, really, one cannot 
see this process going on, day by day, with thousands 


WHERE THE LOST TIME GOES. 


301 


of merchants, without having two reflections forced 
upon his mind. The first is, that these gentlemen 
are under a strange delusion when they imagine that 
they have “no time for reading.” And the other is, 
that newspapers are great moths. One of the familiar 
headings they present to city readers, is, “ Beware 
of Thieves !” What is this but the cry of the pilferer 
who runs away from the scene of his depredations, 
shouting, “ Stop thief!” Certainly, if a man makes 
inquisition for his lost time, he will be very apt to 
find that his favourite newspapers have robbed him 
of a good share of it. They are the culprits: and 
it is only half their criminality, that they have stolen 
his time. They have broken up his early habits of 
reading, perverted his taste, impaired his mental dis¬ 
cipline, and indisposed him to all vigorous thought 
and patient research. He can scarcely summon en¬ 
ergy enough to sit down to one of the Quarterly Re¬ 
views, or to listen while his son or daughter reads to 
the family circle from any standard History or Biog¬ 
raphy. His literature and his resolution have disap¬ 
peared like Pharaoh’s fat kine, and there is nothing 
but the newspaper to show for them! 

Thus much for the supposed “want of time,” which 
reconciles so many merchants and clerks to the neg¬ 
lect of all instructive literature. The common effect, 
as just intimated, is, to generate a distaste for solid 
26 


302 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

reading. It becomes a formidable thing to grapple 
with a book: to overcome the vis inertise which op¬ 
presses the mind on the very suggestion of such a 
task. If the habit has been matured by time, it may 
be invincible. No one expects to see the merchant 
betaking himself to Bacon and Milton and Irving and 
Prescott, who has had the ominous interdict inscribed 
over the gates of his mind for forty years, “No ad¬ 
mittance, except on business.”* Authors (in print, 
at least) are proverbially benevolent and courteous. 
You may have hundreds of them together in your 
house without being disturbed by them. They neither 
quarrel with each other, nor break the peace of the 
family. They are tolerant of dust and neglect and 
all kinds of harsh treatment. They stay where they 
are put, and never come except when they are called. 
The only case in which they show any spirit, is the 
one just hinted at, where an individual undertakes to 
dally with them who has passed by them every day 
for a score or two of years, without deigning to speak 
to them. This they do resent. And the offender is 
apt to find them so punctilious about a reconciliation, 
that after a few advances he gives it up in despair. 
But this is an extreme case. A simple indifference 
to books, may usually be conquered, if you but will 

* See the Hon. George S. Hillard’s admirable Address be¬ 
fore the Boston Mercantile Library Association, 1850. 



HINTS ON READING. 


303 


to do it. For example (I quote from Sydney Smith), 
“ sound travels so many feet in a second. Nothing 
more probable: but you do not care liow light and 
sound travel. Very likely; but make yourself care; 
get up, shake yourself well, pretend to care, make 
believe to care, and very soon you will care, and care 
so much, that you will sit for hours thinking about 
light and sound, and be extremely angry with any 
one who interrupts you in your pursuits, and tolerate 
no other conversation but about light and sound, and 
catch yourself plaguing every body to death who ap¬ 
proaches you, with the discussion of these subjects. I 
am sure that a man ought to read as he would grasp 
a nettle: — do it lightly, and you get molested; grasp 
it with all your strength, and you feel none of its 
asperities. There is nothing so horrible as languid 
study; when you sit looking at the clock, wishing the 
time was over, or that somebody would call on you 
and put you out of your misery. The only way to 
read with any efficacy, is to read so heartily that 
dinner-time [or bed-time] comes two hours before you 
expect it.” And many a young man, at first very 
shy of books, has learned the art of reading in this 
way so well, that he now counts the hours of business 
which keep him from his favourite nook at the Mer¬ 
cantile Library or from the few chosen authors that 
grace the shelves in his chamber. 


304 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


Others might rouse themselves to a similar course, 
hut they “know not how or what to read.” The 
very magnitude of the public libraries to which they 
have access, bewilders them. “ What can they do in 
such a wilderness of books ? With what subjects shall 
they begin ? Which are the best authors ? What is 
the most profitable method of reading?” Questions 
like these crowd upon them, and extinguish the half- 
formed purpose to set about the culture of their minds 
and aspire to something more worthy of their rational 
nature than the character of mere money-makers. 
The difficulty is real, but it is not serious. The topics 
to which it points, it is not my province to discuss; 
but I may say, in a single sentence, that satisfactory 
information on these topics, is within the reach of 
every person who desires it. There are gentlemen 
connected with these libraries, and others in your own 
profession, who would cheerfully aid you in arranging 
a course of reading. Or better still, perhaps, there 
are books on this very subject, containing ample in¬ 
formation respecting every department of letters, and 
designed to meet in a judicious and competent man¬ 
ner, the very wants which have been described.* No 

* See, especially, “ A Course of English Reading, adapted 
to every taste and capacity, with Anecdotes of Men of Genius. 
By the Rev. James Pycroft, B. A., Trinity College, Oxford.” 
(A. Hart, Philad.) A most instructive and entertaining book. 



A SHIELD AGAINST TEMPTATION. 


305 


young man, with such helps at hand, need he at a 
loss what to read, nor how to read to good purpose. 

The importance of this habit in a simply profes¬ 
sional view, and as going to counteract the influence 
of a too exclusive devotion to merchandize, has already 
been adverted to. It is no less useful to young men 
in our cities, as a shield against temptation. “ The 
ruin of most men,” says Mr. Hillard, “ dates from 
some vacant hour. Occupation is the armour of the 
soul, and the train of Idleness is borne up by all the 
vices. I remember a satirical poem, in which the 
Devil is represented as fishing for men, and adapting 
his baits to the taste and temperament of his prey; 
but the idler, he said, pleased him most, because he 
bit the naked hook. To a young man away from 
home, friendless and forlorn in a great city, the hours 
of peril are those between sunset and bed-time, for 
the moon and stars see more of evil in a single hour 
than the sun in his whole day’s circuit. The poet’s 
visions of evening are all compact of tender and 
soothing images. It brings the wanderer to his 
home, the child to h^ mother’s arms, the ox to his 
stall, and the weary labourer to his rest. But to the 
gentle-hearted youth who is thrown upon the rocks 
of a pitiless city, and stands ‘ homeless amid a thou¬ 
sand homes,’ the approach of evening brings with it 
an aching sense of loneliness and desolation, which 
26 * 


306 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


comes down upon the spirit like darkness upon the 
earth. In this mood, his best impulses become a 
snare to him, and he is led astray because he is social, 
affectionate, sympathetic, and warm-hearted. If there 
be a young man thus circumstanced within the sound 
of my voice, let me say to him that books are the 
friends of the friendless, and that a Library is the 
home of the homeless. A taste for reading will always 
carry you into the best possible company, and enable 
you to converse with men who will instruct you by 
their wisdom and charm you by their wit, who will 
soothe you when fretted, refresh you when weary, 
counsel you when perplexed, and sympathize with 
you at all times. Evil spirits, in the Middle Ages, 
were driven away by ‘ bell, book, and candle’; — you 
want but two of these, the book and the candle.” 

It is another consideration of great moment, that 
merchants, in this country, are often called to high 
public stations. They may be found among our Legis¬ 
lators. They have graced the Cabinet, and repre¬ 
sented us at European Courts. A profession thus 
identified -with our national affairs, should be no less 
distinguished for its general intelligence than its in¬ 
tegrity and enterprise. 

The importance of literary culture as a prepara¬ 
tion for retiring from business, has been adverted to 
on former occasions, and the length of this Lecture 


THE BOOK OF BOOKS. 


307 


forbids me to enlarge upon it here. But the argu¬ 
ment may be seen in its best form, if those who are 
curious on the subject, will take the trouble to esti¬ 
mate for themselves, the intellectual and moral re¬ 
sources, and the honour and comfort, of a"merchant 
who carries into his retirement a well-disciplined 
mind and established habits of reading, as compared 
with the closing years of another who, on bidding 
adieu to his Counting-House, is ready to say, with 
Micah, a Ye have taken away my gods which I made, 
and what have I more V* 

The paramount reason, however, why mercantile 
men should bestow this care upon mental culture, 
grows out of its connexion with their spiritual inte¬ 
rests ; — and that, not simply in those indirect 
methods which have already been mentioned. The 
argument drawn from the conservative and elevating 
influence of literary occupation generally, is sound 
and forcible. But the higher bearings of this habit 
will be understood at once, when I mention the Bible 
as the book which must of right claim a precedence 
in every scheme of reading. Regarded simply as a 
means of intellectual discipline, no other work can 
be studied to equal advantage. Its themes are 
the sublimest and the most ennobling which can be 
contemplated; and the mind which is brought into 
reverential and habitual contact with them, will grow 


808 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

rapidly in strength and comprehension. But not 
only does the Bible speak to us of God: it is God 
who speaks to us in its sacred pages. And, there¬ 
fore, while other books may be read, this book must 
be read. Not to read it, is to contemn its Author. 
Not to read it, is to miss the manifold blessings, and 
to incur the fearful retributions, it reveals. There 
alone is the WAY OF salvation laid open, and that 
question, the most momentous which can engage the 
attention of a rational being, authoritatively answer¬ 
ed, “ What must I do to be saved ?” Whatever may 
be neglected then, neglect not the faithful, systematic, 
devout study of the Sacred Scriptures. Ignorance 
of the Bible were not merely disreputable to you as 
men of intelligence: it would jeopard, and might de¬ 
stroy, your souls. And “ what shall it profit a man 
if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul!” 


TESTIMONY OF A CLERK. 


309 


XttUm Mintfj. 

THE CLAIMS OF THE SABBATH UPON MERCHANTS. 


A few days since, stepping into one of our great 
commercial houses, the floor of which was covered 
with boxes of merchandize awaiting transportation, I 
said to one of the clerks, calling him by name, “ What 
would you young men do without a Sunday ?” “ What 
would we do?” he replied, “we could not do at all. 
It would be impossible for us to get on without Sun¬ 
day in the other portions of the year; and not to 
have it at this season, would break us right up at 
once. It is indispensable to us,” he added, “for 
physical rest, and a great deal more so that our 
minds may get repose from this care and anxiety 
which are so crushing to us.” His appearance gave 
emphasis to every word he uttered. I had seen him 
at the commencement of “the season,” and marked 
his fine, bright countenance and his elastic step. 
Again, in the interval I had seen him, and heard him 
say, on a Saturday afternoon — “I have not been in 


310 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


my bed until one or two o’clock, a single night this 
week.” And now his cheek was blanched, he had 
become very thin, and his whole aspect and gait were 
stamped with lassitude and exhaustion.—I have cited 
him as a witness on this subject, because while he is 
a very estimable young man and a most faithful and 
efficient clerk, he is not, I believe, a professor of reli¬ 
gion : and with a certain class of persons, this circum¬ 
stance may impart additional weight to his testimony. 
But in truth, it would not be requisite to select wit¬ 
nesses in order to establish the necessity of a weekly 
rest. You would be safe in going at random into any 
of our Counting-Houses, or in polling the entire mer¬ 
cantile community on this question: — there could be 
but one response to the question, “ Is Sunday essen¬ 
tial to the proper prosecution of commercial business ?” 
This, however, is but a partial statement of the truth. 
The Sabbath is not essential to the merchant only, but 
to men of every occupation, and of all climes and 
kindreds. This is the teaching alike of the Bible, of 
science, and of experience. 

Our Saviour has affirmed it in that much-perverted 
saying, a The Sabbath was made for man, and not 
man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2: 27.) As the word 
Sabbath means a rest , this language implies that man 
requires a day of rest. He wdio “ knew w r hat was in 
man,” foresaw that he would need a weekly respite 


DR. FARRE. 


311 


from labour. Had he been differently constituted, or 
differently situated, this might possibly have been dis¬ 
pensed with; or instead of one-seventh, some other 
portion of his time might have been demanded for 
repose. But as he is, he must have a “rest-day”; 
and so his bountiful Creator has given him one. To 
quarrel with the Sabbath, therefore, is for a man to 
quarrel with his own constitution. And the people 
who declaim so much about this institution as an 
invention of “priestcraft,” would be more rationally 
employed in inquiring how and why they came to be 
created with a physical and moral frame-work which 
would soon shiver to pieces without a Sabbath. If 
“priestcraft” has invented the Sabbath, it deserves 
for once their thanks rather than their maledictions. 
Let us hear an eminent scientific authority on the 
subject: — 

“As a day of rest/’ says Dr. Farre, in his testimony before 
a Committee of the House of Commons, “ I view it as a day 
of compensation for the inadequate restorative power of the 
body under continued labour and excitement. A physician 
always has respect to the preservation of the restorative 
power, because, if once this be lost, his healing office is at an 
end. If I show you from the physiological view of the question, 
that there are provisions in the laws of nature which corre¬ 
spond with the divine commandment, you will see from the 
analogy that ‘the Sabbath was made for man’ as a necessary 
appointment. A physician is anxious to preserve the balance 


312 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


of circulation, as necessary to the restorative power of the 
body. The ordinary exertions of man run down the circula¬ 
tion every day of his life ; and the first general law of nature 
by which God (who is not only the giver, but also the pre¬ 
server and sustainer, of life,) prevents man from destroying 
himself, is the alternating of day with night, that repose may 
succeed action. But although the night apparently equalizes 
the circulation well, yet it does not sufficiently restore its 
balance for the attainment of a long life. Hence one day in 
seven, by the bounty of Providence, is thrown in as a day of 
compensation, to perfect by its repose the animal system. 
Take that fine animal, the horse, and work him to the full 
extent of his powers every day in the week, or give him rest 
one day in seven, and you will soon perceive, by the superior 
vigour with which he performs his functions on the other six 
days, that this is necessary to his well-being. Man, possess¬ 
ing a superior nature, is borne along by the very vigour of 
his mind, so that the injury of continued diurnal exertion and 
excitement on his animal system, is not so immediately ap¬ 
parent as it is in the brute; but in the long run he breaks 
down more suddenly; it abridges the length of his life and 
that vigour of his old age which (as to mere animal power) 
ought to be the object of his preservation. I consider, there¬ 
fore, that in the bountiful provision of Providence for the 
preservation of human life, the Sabbatical appointment is not, 
as it has been sometimes theologically viewed, simply a pre¬ 
cept partaking of the nature of a political institution; but 
that it is to be numbered amongst the natural duties, if the 
preservation of life be admitted to be a duty, and the prema¬ 
ture destruction of it a suicidal act. This is said simply as 
a Physician, and without reference at all to the theological 
question: but if you consider further the proper effect of 


THE SABBATH FOUNDED IN NATURE. 313 


real Christianity— namely, peace of mind, confiding trust 
in God, and good-will to man—you will perceive in this 
source of renewed vigour to the mind, and through the mind 
to the body, an additional spring of life imparted from this 
higher use of the Sabbath as a holy rest” 

The principle elucidated in these philosophical 
observations, has been recognized by the worst ene¬ 
mies of the Sabbath. So thoroughly satisfied were 
the French Theophilanthropists, of the necessity of a 
day of rest, that when they abolished the Sabbath 
they replaced it with a decade , making every tenth 
day a holiday. 

It follows from the argument just presented, that 
the Sabbath could have been no mere local or tran¬ 
sitory enactment. The nature of man remaining 
unchanged, a restorative “ rest-day” would be equally 
essential under all dispensations and among all 
nations. Accordingly, there are distinct traces of 
such an institute from the creation to the exodus: 
under the theocracy it was formally incorporated in 
the decalogue: the Saviour confirmed its authority: 
and from his ascension until now, Christendom has 
recognized it as an ordinance of God. The change 
from the seventh to the first day of the week (a point 
which the limits of this service forbid my entering 
into here), does not affect the essence of the institu¬ 
tion. The vital thing — that which was originally 
27 


314 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


appointed — that which was republished with fresh 
sanctions at Sinai — is, the “ Sabbath,” the “ rest- 
day .” That which the human constitution demands, 
and has always demanded, is, a weekly rest extending, 
in the aggregate, over one-seventh part of man’s 
allotted period upon earth. To use a familiar illus¬ 
tration, we might suppose a company of Christian 
tourists to start from Pittsburg and travel westward, 
until they had compassed the globe and returned to 
some isolated spot on the mountains within a few 
miles of their former home. If they had kept each 
Sabbath as it came, avoiding all intercourse with 
other Christians, and should now settle in their new 
abode without communicating at all with their neigh¬ 
bours, they would have lost a day by their journey, 
and we should have the anomaly of two adjacent 
communities, of the same faith, keeping the Christian 
Sabbath on different days . Can any one deny that 
the observance of these travellers would be a substan¬ 
tial accordance with the Sabbath-law, or doubt that 
it would be acceptable to God? It is not, then, 
incompatible with the original enactment, that the 
day should be changed — especially by the Lord of 
the Sabbath himself. 

All this may be conceded by individuals who will, 
nevertheless, argue, that “ as the Sabbath 4 was made 
for man,’ man must have a right to do what he 


DESIGN OF THE LAW. 


315 


chooses with it. If he sees fit to open his store and 
sell goods on that day, to send his mowers into the 
field w T ith their scythes, to run his stages, to keep his 
journeymen at tanning, marble - dressing, building, 
weaving, or whatever his trade may be, no one may 
resist it as an infraction of the Sabbath. And if 
governments and corporations choose to keep canals 
and railways in operation, as well on the first day of 
the week as on the other six, they are not contra¬ 
vening the Sabbath-law.” 

This, however, will depend on the design of the 
law. No sweeping conclusions like these can be 
deduced from the proposition that “ the Sabbath was 
made for man.” You may say to your son : “ Here 
is a watch which I have had made for you.” Would 
that authorize him to throw the watch into the sea, 
or to take it to pieces and use the machinery in 
patching together his broken toys ? You may erect 
a costly mansion, and say to your bridal daughter: 
“ I have built and furnished this house for you, as a 
wedding-present.” Would this justify her in setting 
fire to it, or in renting it for a grocery-store ? You 
may say to one of your clerks: “I have had this 
additional ware-room constructed expressly for you, 
and I wish you to take charge of it.” Would this 
warrant him in storing other people’s goods there, or 
in trafficking in articles w r hich you disapproved of 


316 THE BIBLE IN TIIE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


and winch might damage you in business and reputa¬ 
tion ? — Neither does it follow, because God has made 
the Sabbath for you, that you may do what you 
please with it; — especially as he has in fact made it 
over to you in trust only, and without divesting him¬ 
self of his own right in it. In the deed by which He 
has conveyed it to you, the general uses to which it 
is to be applied, are carefully specified. It is to be 
a holy rest — a day of religious worship — a day 
specifically dedicated to God and the soul. Yet not 
so rigidly spiritual as to preclude any and all non¬ 
spiritual offices in all conceivable circumstances. There 
are secular matters which may be attended to on the 
Sabbath. But what they are, it is His prerogative, 
not ours, to decide. And He has decided. He has 
settled the principle, by his teaching and his example, 
that works of necessity and mercy are not in deroga¬ 
tion of the sacredness of the day. Beyond this, no 
man can go without usurping a control over the whole 
institution, and impugning the right of the “Lord of 
the Sabbath,” to say how it shall be kept. There is 
no intermediate ground. If the Bible is not to be 
recognized as the paramount authority, as well in 
respect to the exceptions as to the rule itself, then 
the rule is a nullity and the Sabbath a figment. For 
what does the command, “ Remember the Sabbath- 
day, to keep it holy,” amount to, if each man may 


ALLOWED SECULARITIES. 


317 


bend the day to his own caprices? The principle 
which would sanction your traffieking on that day, 
would no less legitimate the military reviews and 
public amusements to which Sunday is appropriated 
in most of the European capitals. Any one who has 
spent a week in Paris, must know what we might 
expect if this mode of interpreting the declaration, 
“the Sabbath was made for man,” should become 
prevalent in this country. But the Bible has not 
thus stultified itself by ordaining a law, and then 
allowing every individual to put what construction 
upon it he chooses. The Lawgiver has expounded 
his own statute. And under this authority, our secu¬ 
larises on that day are restricted to the two classes 
of offices just specified. Whether any proposed ser¬ 
vice be a work of “necessity” or of “mercy,” we 
must decide for ourselves, under our responsibility to 
God. To abuse this liberty by turning the Sabbath 
into a day of pastime or of needless toil, is to practise 
a paltry deception upon our own consciences, and to 
insult the Deity. The spirit of the divine legislation 
on this subject, any candid inquirer will readily com¬ 
prehend ; and the more such an one investigates it, 
the clearer will become his conviction of the unbounded 
wisdom and goodness involved in this whole economy 
of a perpetual weekly Sabbath. 

There is another serious error in the reasoning of 

27* 


318 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the plea I have quoted. 0 Because “ the Sabbath was 
made for man,” if jour interest as individuals or as 
corporators in a joint-stock company appears to re¬ 
quire it, you may exact of your clerks and journey¬ 
men, your steamboat crews and railroad servitors, 
any amount of Sabbath labour which you see fit. So 
you argue: but with bad logic and worse humanity. 
If “the Sabbath (the rest-day) was made for man ,” 
who gave you the right to monopolize it? These 
book-keepers and salesmen and packers and porters 
— are they not men? These engineers and con¬ 
ductors and stokers and switch-tenders and baggage- 
masters and machinists and depot-keepers — are they 
not men ? And if they are, was not the day of rest 
made for them as well as for you ? It is nothing to 
the purpose that you are rich and they are poor; or 
that you are principals and they subordinates. With 
God, there is no respect of persons. And if He made 
the Sabbath for “man” — for every man, and for 
one man as much as for another — it is to be pre¬ 
sumed He will not regard with indifference any 
attempt on the part of the opulent or the powerful 
to intercept from the poor, the boon He has intended 
for them. Their right to it is as indisputable as your 
own. They do not receive it from you. It is not 
yours to give; and if you cannot confer it, you can¬ 
not take it away. God has bestowed it upon them 


EVERY MAN'S RIGHT TO A SABBATH. 319 


and upon you alike, as lie has the atmosphere and 
the light; and it is ah invasion of His prerogative, 
to deprive them of their chartered rest. The title 
under which they hold it, is paramount to all human 
compacts : older than any patent of nobility, above 
all crowns and constitutions. The image and super¬ 
scription upon it, are those of the King of Kings 
and Lord of Lords ; and, as if to impress upon it 
a sacredness still more awful, it is sealed with “ blood 
divine.” By such an instrument is a weekly rest 
guaranteed to all your helpers and subordinates, from 
your confidential cashier down to your errand-boy. 
By such an instrument is it secured to all the tribes 
of labour — to the men who wheel upon the wharves, 
to the operatives in every mill, the mechanics and 
apprentices in every shop, the clerks in every Post- 
office, the working staff of every canal and railroad. 
The Sabbath is no gratuity bestowed upon them by 
their employers. Their employers have it for them¬ 
selves by virtue of their being men , hut it is not 
theirs to give away. God has given it to every 
man ; and they would do well not to interfere with 
His gift. 

The pretension against which I am arguing, is, 
indeed, monstrous. It is the deliberate assumption of 
a right to invalidate a Divine grant! to wrest from 
a large portion of the human race, a priceless posses- 


320 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

sion which they hold directly from God himself! I 
say, “from a large portion of the race,” and it is 
even so. For if the principle contended for be ad¬ 
mitted, that the affluent and the great may constrain 
(and moral means may be so used as to amount to 
coercion) the dependent classes to work for them on 
the Sabbath, where no office of “necessity or mercy” 
is involved, then the weekly rest which was “ made 
for man,” may come to be the exclusive appendage 
of those who are blessed with wealth or station; and 
these are a mere fraction of any community. Nor is 
this all. The motive winch prompts to this oppres¬ 
sion of the poor — the entire basis upon w T hich this 
usurpation of the Divine prerogative rests — is, a 
sordid self-interest. It is to inflame still more the 
feverish excitement of commerce and increase its 
gains, to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, 
that large bodies of deserving men are to be robbed 
of the rest-day which God made for them. Avarice 
is never satisfied. It might have been supposed, that 
when science and art had brought the remote portions 
of a country like this into juxta-position, and, in the 
matter of travelling and transportation, well-nigh 
condensed days into hours, the trade-spirit would be 
content to pause for one day out of seven, and let all 
its servants enjoy the repose the Creator had pro¬ 
vided for them. But so far from this, the disposition 


TYRANNY OF AVARICE. 


321 


is to make every new railroad a fresh instrument of 
Sabbath-desecration. The faster goods travel, the 
faster they must travel. The traffickers from the 
country, who would certainly reach the city or their 
homes on Monday, are not satisfied with this: they 
must “ save a day” by travelling on Sunday. With 
a similar economy of time, the metropolitan merchant 
takes Sunday for his transit to or from a contiguous 
city. “ Business requires it.” Excuse me for telling 
you, that you are mistaken. As a general rule, busi¬ 
ness does not require it. Legitimate business never 
can require that you should habitually desecrate the 
Sabbath, and deprive some scores or hundreds of 
your fellow-men of their chartered rest. It is cupidity 
that requires it. It would make more money, or make 
it faster: and in this greediness after gain, it does not 
scruple to tyrannise over those whose circumstances 
place them at its mercy, and to wrest from them the 
only day of the seven which they can call their own. 

I would press home upon you, your own favourite 
text, “the Sabbath was made for man.” It was 
made for man ; and if you consider how invaluable it 
is to those who are consigned to a life of toil, you 
will feel that it must be a flagrant wrong to despoil 
them of it. The human constitution, as has been 
shown, demands this periodic rest. Men who have 
to labour without it, are sure to break down and die. 


822 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


I do not ask, will Christian principle, but, will com¬ 
mon humanity, justify us in prosecuting business on 
any plan which must be fatal to the health and the 
lives of our fellow-creatures ? And if you take away 
the Sabbath, what time has the labourer for his family ? 
It may be a light thing for you to go off on a Sunday 
from your homes. But look out of your window of 
a morning, and see these men, after a hurried break¬ 
fast, before their children are up, hastening to their 
work, each one carrying a basket or kettle with his 
noon-day lunch; and see them again returning, after 
sun-down, fagged and weary, and much fitter for bed 
than for the companionship of their families: — and 
say, whether such men ought to be denied the only 
day they can devote to domestic affection and house¬ 
hold joys. The Sabbath is, under God, one of the main 
ramparts which guard the poor-man’s habitation from 
the exactions of power and the rapacity of avarice. 
And to subvert this, is to rob him of his home. 

“ Hail, Sabbath! thee I hail, the poor man’s day. 

On other days the man of toil is doom’d 
To eat his joyless bread, lonely, the ground 
Both seat and board, screen’d from the winter’s cold 
And summer’s heat by neighbouring hedge or tree; 
But on this day, embosomed in his home, 

He shares the frugal meal with those he loves; 

With those he loves he shares the heartfelt joy 
Of giving thanks to God.” 


THE LABOURER’S COTTAGE. 


323 


This scene has been described by a “ Labourer’s 
Daughter” as no one could depict it except from 
experience. I will quote from her sketch but a single 
paragraph, as the volume is within the reach of all, 
and eminently worthy to be read of all.* 

“ "What a delightful scene of tranquil enjoyment is to he 
met with in the family of the labourer where the Sabbath is 
properly appreciated and actively improved ! Has the reader 
ever spent a Lord’s day in such a family ? Has he seen the 
children, awaking from the light slumbers of the morning, 
glance round on the more than usual order, cleanliness, and 
quiet of the humble apartment, and then ask, ‘ Mother, what 
day is this?’ and heard the reply, ‘This is the Sabbath, the 
best of all days, the day which God has blessed \’ Has he 
seen their father dandling the baby, till their mother should 
finish dressing the elder children, and then, when all were 
ready, heard the little circle join in the sweet morning hymn, 
and seen them kneel together, while their father offered up a 
simple but heartfelt thanksgiving for life, health, and reason 
preserved, through the toils of another week; and for the 
privilege of being again all permitted to enjoy, in each other’s 
society, the blessed light of the first day of the week; that 
morning light which brings to mind an empty grave and a 
risen Saviour; those peaceful hours, which, undisturbed by 
the labour, hurry, and anxieties of the week, they can devote 
to the advancement of that spiritual life in their souls, which 

* See “ Prize-Essays on the Temporal Advantages of the 
Sabbath,” by Working Men: which also includes the “ Pearl 
of Days , by a Labourer's Daughter.” Presb. Board of Pub 
lication. 




324 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


shall outlive the destruction of death itself? Has he heard 
the words of prayer, the questions of the father, and the 
replies of the children ; and has he not felt assured that the 
mind-awakening influences of such subjects of thought, and 
such exercises, would be seen in the after-years of these 
children ? ” 

This last thought would bear to be expanded — 
“the mind-awakening influences” of the Sabbath, 
not only in its domestic, but in its public, religious 
services. For it is no less the chief means of mental 
improvement to the labourer, than his indispensable 
season of physical repose. But above all these, it 
supplies him with his only adequate opportunities for 
spiritual culture and preparation for eternity. This 
is so apparent, that it would be a waste of words to 
prove , that to subject the labouring classes, or any 
class, to habitual toil on the Lord’s day, is, to cut 
them off from the sanctuary, to deprive them of the 
requisite leisure for the study of the Bible, to subvert 
their religious principles, and, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, to corrupt their morals and destroy their 
souls. 

But some one may be ready to exclaim — “ What 
is all this to us ? Why address Merchants on the 
importance of the Sabbath to the poor ? ” I answer, 
because most of the usages which go to deprive the 
poor of their Sabbath, have the sanction of the com¬ 
mercial body. To advert to a topic repeatedly men- 


RAILWAY-TRAFFIC. 


325 


tioned — the railroads of the United States are , for 
the most part, controlled by its merchants. It is at 
your bidding that the Post-office is made an exception 
to the rule which regulates every other department 
of the government, and its incumbents deprived of 
the rest enjoyed by all other public servants. It is 
your merchandize (I address the profession as a whole) 
which sends these long trains of freight-cars along 
the rails on the Sabbath. It is your patronage, 
beyond that of any other class of citizens, that sus¬ 
tains the “passenger-trains” on Sundays. Whenever 
an effort is made to suspend the Sunday-traffic on 
any particular road, it is commerce that remonstrates 
against it. It has even claimed in some instances, 
that a road should be kept in operation on that day, 
although, on its own concession, the passenger-trains 
would have to be run at a positive pecuniary loss — 
the pretext being, that the suspension of the trains 
might divert travel to other lines. The only medium 
through which this great moral question i3 contem¬ 
plated, is that of business and profits. The improve¬ 
ment and comfort of the working people and their 
families, go for nothing. The authority of God 
goes for nothing. Commerce, uninstructed by reli¬ 
gion, has but one standard of value, and casts all 
commodities, from iron and cotton up to ethics and 
devotion, into the same scales, — 

28 


826 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


“ Nor is it well, nor can it come to good, 

That through profane and infidel contempt 
Of Holy Writ, she has presumed t’ annul 
And abrogate, as roundly as she may, 

The total ordinance and will of God,” 

and to degrade the Sabbath, in so far as “ business” 
may seem to demand it, to a mere secular day. This 
“ cannot come to good” even as regards her own 
affairs. It is demonstrable that the general and 
permanent prosperity of any country, in a simply 
commercial view, will be promoted by a due obser¬ 
vance of the Sabbath. This is implied in the argu¬ 
ment already presented on the Sabbath-law as being 
founded in the very structure of thfe human constitu¬ 
tion. It is no less evident from the intimate con¬ 
nexion between the business of a people and the state 
of the public morals, and the dependence of this, 
again, upon the respect paid to the Sabbath. It is 
of the last importance to the mercantile body, that 
the country should be pervaded with a healthful 
morality. Whatever lowers the tone of integrity, 
multiplies the discomforts of trade and augments its 
losses. If you do anything to impair the general 
reverence for the Supreme Being and for his law, 
you are counterworking your own pecuniary interests: 
and, sooner or later, unlooked-for delinquencies and 
frauds among your customers or clerks, may remind 


THE PLATFORM OF CHRISTIANITY. 


327 


you of your error. But the desecration of the Sab¬ 
bath is a measure of this sort — and one of the most 
decisive you could put your hands to. For the pre¬ 
servation of religion and virtue among a people, de¬ 
pends essentially, under Providence, upon the Sab¬ 
bath. Christianity has her Bible, her sanctuaries, 
her systems of religious education, her munificent 
array of benevolent institutions: but what are all 
these without a day of rest? The Sabbath is the 
platform on which this whole machinery stands; 
and to strike that down, would be well-nigh to para¬ 
lyze the agencies by which the Gospel is carrying 
forward its sublime mission of regenerating the world. 
If men loved Christianity, the case were different. 
But they do not love her. They will not of them¬ 
selves seek her out and supplicate her blessings. 
She must come to them , as her Divine Founder came 
from heaven to “ to seek and to save that which was 
lost” ; and to do this, she must have a season appro¬ 
priated to the purpose, a day set apart by authority, 
when business shall intermit its traffickings and plea¬ 
sure its frivolities, and politics its debates, and house¬ 
wifery its toil, and all the tribes and conditions of 
humanity be allowed to pause and listen to the voice 
of Grod as He speaks to them in His Word. The 
Sabbath supplies this opportunity. It is in itself a 
most wholesome and impressive memorial of a super- 


328 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE, 

intending Providence. The tranquil wharves of a 
Sabbath-keeping city, the long rows of closed ware¬ 
houses, the peaceful streets, the silent Banks and 
Exchange, all proclaim that thebe is a God. This 
weekly rest is a Witness for Him in a world which 
is perpetually prone to forget Him. It is a Witness 
to his power, in the work of creation and in the 
resurrection of Christ; to his wisdom, in ordaining 
this season of repose; to his goodness and grace, in 
providing its manifold benefits; and to his sovereignty, 
in the right he herein challenges to control our time 
and all our affairs. — If just conceptions of the Deity 
are essential to sound morality, then must it be ad¬ 
mitted that the Sabbath is one of the main buttresses 
of the public morals. 

Again, experience has shown, that Sabbath-keeping 
is friendly to all the virtues, while Sabbath-desecration 
readily affiliates with all the vices. Dealing with 
men in masses, those who observe this day in the 
spirit of the institution, will usually be found on the 
side of industry, frugality, honesty, intelligence, and 
good citizenship; while those who habitually profane 
it, will generally be more or less addicted to idleness, 
fraud, prodigality, swearing, intemperance, or other 
vices. The true way to secure trust-worthy clerks 
and faithful warehouse-men, to gather around your 
great establishments a body of subordinates and 


THE PALLADIUM OF LIBERTY. 


329 


helpers who can be relied upon in all exigencies, and 
who will do your work thoroughly and cheerfully, is, 
to encourage all in your employ to honour the Sab¬ 
bath. Loyalty to God is the best guarantee of fidelity 
to man. And he who can trample upon a Divine 
command, has weakened, if not subverted, the prin¬ 
ciple which binds him to be upright in his dealings 
with his neighbours. 

On a still broader view, this “ rest-day” has an 
imperative claim upon the citizens of this country. 
It is scarcely a figure to characterize it as the palla¬ 
dium of our liberties. The historical fact is of preg¬ 
nant import, that despots, whether political or sacer¬ 
dotal, have always been hostile to the evangelical 
Sabbath. It was in logical harmony with the whole 
genius of the Stuart dynasty, that James I., and, 
after him, Charles I., should attempt to break down 
the Sabbath by imposing the “ Book of Sports” upon 
the British people. It is in keeping with the spirit 
which controls, and has always controlled, the Euro¬ 
pean despotisms, that they should encourage their 
subjects to turn the Sabbath into a day of amuse¬ 
ment. A nation that moils for six days and frolicks 
the seventh, is about as fit material for a tyrant as 
could be desired. But a tyrant could do nothing 
with a people who had free access to the Bible, and 
assembled every Sunday in their sanctuaries to listen 
28 * 


330 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

to the faithful preaching of the Gospel. Such a 
people would have too much intelligence to wear the 
yoke of an oppressor. They would understand their 
rights and have the courage to assert them. Neither 
crown nor mitre could terrify them into a servile sub¬ 
mission to wrong, nor put off their demand for their 
proper franchises with a sop of beggarly amusements. 
This is hut too well understood in the countries 
referred to. In Spain, in Austria, in France, in 
Italy, the grand policy of the reigning authorities, 
civil and ecclesiastical, is to keep the people in igno¬ 
rance of the Bible ; to deny them all instructive 
preaching, prevent even the private study of the 
Scriptures, and make the Sabbath (after the morning 
service!) a scene of mirth and dissipation. If we 
are to preserve and transmit to other times, a govern¬ 
ment the reverse of all these — a government, free, 
just, enlightened, beneficent in all its tendencies, and 
supported, not by the bayonets of a standing army, 
native or foreign* hut by the generous affections of 
its citizens, we must reverse the means and implements 
of their policy, and secure to our entire population an 
open Bible and a scriptural Sabbath. This will 
he no precarious defence against domestic usurpation 
and foreign aggression, against the turbulence of 
faction and the violence of anarchy, against the 


* Look at the Papal throne. 



HOSTILE AGENCIES. 


331 


subtleties of priestcraft and the ravings of atheism. 
That all these evil agencies should be hostile to the 
Christian Sabbath in its true import, is a fact which 
deserves to be pondered by candid and patriotic men 
of whatever sect or party : it might help to open the 
eyes of some who have inconsiderately discounte¬ 
nanced measures designed to rescue “the Lord’s 
day” from desecration. In every aspect in which 
the question can be viewed, they will find that this 
invaluable institution is identified no less with all our 
material interests as a nation, than with the improve¬ 
ment and happiness of individuals and families. 

I know not how these general views may impress 
the minds of the Merchants whom it is my privilege 
to address, but it will be proper to show that the 
Sabbath has other and more direct claims upon your 
homage: — I mean, a Sabbath kept in the true spirit 
of tills divine ordinance. You might yield a vague 
assent to the reasonings which have been urged, and 
reckon yourselves among the friends of the Sabbath, 
while, nevertheless, you would deem it no infraction 
of the fourth commandment, to appropriate the day, 
or a considerable portion of it, to the posting of books, 
to your commercial correspondence, to the revision 
of your plans or the projecting of new ones, or to a 
journey to some neighbouring city. But this is not 
keeping the Sabbath. The command is, “ Remember 


382 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

• 

the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” This surely im¬ 
ports something more than that you are not to open 
your Counting-Houses and require the attendance of 
your clerks and porters, and make that day in all 
respects like the other six. No merchant can do this 
in our cities without losing caste among his brethren. 
It is not deemed respectable to do it; and it were, 
therefore, a very equivocal SGrt of compliment to 
applaud a man for abstaining from it. The commer¬ 
cial sentiment still sanctions the transaction of Post- 
office business on the Sabbath, although without any 
adequate reason. In particular cases this is, of course, 
proper: a necessity or mercy” may demand it, and 
to proscribe it in such instances, were to be “ righteous 
over-much.” But there is no sufficient reason for 
converting the exception into the rule. If there is 
any city in the world which requires a general delivery 
on Sunday, it must be the financial centre of the 
world, London. . It is preposterous to claim in behalf 
of any community, an extent of Post-office accommo¬ 
dation beyond that which satisfies the two millions of 
that great capital. And they are satisfied with having 
their Post-office closed on the Sabbath. This was 
demonstrated three years ago in the most conclusive 
manner, by the memorials sent up to Parliament from 
the metropolis, in favour of closing all the Post-offices 
throughout the United Kingdom on that day. These 


THE LONDON POST-OFFICES. 


333 


petitions, which were very emphatic in their language, 
were signed by many thousands of citizens, including 
nearly all the principal bankers and merchants. If 
the commerce of London thrives under an arrange¬ 
ment of this kind, that of Philadelphia or New York 
would not suffer from a similar one.* 

* As a specimen of the papers alluded to, I subjoin one 
which was circulated among the London Bankers. Similar 
“ Declarations” were signed by the leading Mercantile firms, 
the principal Surgeons and Solicitors, and the Aldermen, of 
the Metropolis. This honourable example of a great com¬ 
mercial community coming forward to secure to the public 
servants in the numerous Post*©ffices of the realm an unbroken 
Sabbath , is in striking contrast with the spirit displayed on 
the same question in some of our own cities. May it not be 
hoped that something of this magnanimity will yet be exhi¬ 
bited on this side of the water ? 

DECLARATION. 

London, January, 1850. 

We, the undersigned, being strongly impressed with a 
belief that there exists no greater necessity to justify the 
transaction of the ordinary business of receiving and deliver¬ 
ing letters on the Sabbath-day, in any of the Post-offices of 
the United Kiugdom, than in those of the Metropolis, do 
hereby earnestly request her Majesty’s Government to take 
into immediate consideration, the expediency and propriety 
of causing the same to be discontinued, by ordering the Post- 
offices in the country to be altogether closed on that day. 

This belief is grounded on the following facts: — 

1. That the Metropolis, containing a population of 2,200,000 
souls, has never experienced any necessity for the open¬ 
ing of the Metropolitan Post-offices on Sundays. 



334 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


But I have no intention to discuss this topic. I 
am simply insisting upon a faithful dedication of the 
Sabbath to its legitimate uses, as an object of the 
greatest moment to the commercial body. My young 


2. That the great acceleration which has recently taken place 
in the postal communications throughout the empire, must 
necessarily diminish, to a very great extent, any inconve¬ 
nience which it might otherwise be supposed would arise 
from closing the Provincial Post-offices on Sunday. 

And believing that the effectual preservation of a seventh 
day of rest from their ordinary labour, is a principle of vital 
importance to the physical and social well-being of the poorer 
classes of society, whilst the due observance of the Lord's day 
is a duty of solemn obligation upon all classes of the commu¬ 
nity, we agree to take such me’Stsures as may appear best cal¬ 
culated to press the foregoing considerations on the attention 
of the Government and the Legislature. 

Baring Brothers, Fullers & Co. 

Williams, Deacon & Co. Barnard, Barnard & Dimsdale, 
Hankeys & Co. Drewett & Fowler, 

Barclay, Bevan, Tritton & Co. Cunliffes & Co. 


Jones, Lloyd & Co. 
Masterman, Peters & Co. 
Bobarts, Curtis & Co. 

Smith, Payne & Smiths, 
Denison & Co. 

Price, Marfyatt & Co. 
Barnett, Hoares & Co. 
Ilanbury, Taylor & Lloyd, 
Rogers, Olding & Co. 
Bosanquet, Franks & Co. 
Spooner, Attwood & Co. 
Brown, Janson & Co. 

Sapte, Muspratt, Bunbury & 
Co. 


H. E. Gurney, 

Samuel Gurney, Jun. 

A. & G. W. Alexander & Co. 
Charles Iloare & Co. 
Goslings & Sharpe, 

Child & Co. 

Praeds and Co. 

Dixon, Brooks & Dixon. 
Strahan & Co. 

R. Twining & Co. 

Herries, Farquhar & Co. 
Ransom & Co. 

Bouverie & Co. 

Charles Ilopkinson & Co. 



INSANITY. 


385 


friend whom I quoted in the opening of this Lecture, 
spoke of its absolute necessity to the merchant and 
his coadjutors as a season of physical rest. But it is 
(as he, indeed, intimated) far more than this. It is 
an institution demanded by our intellectual nature. 
Repose is as essential to the mind as to the body. A 
British writer has observed, “ We never knew a man 
work seven days in a week, who did not kill himself 
or kill his mind.” The records of our Insane Asy¬ 
lums will supply painful confirmation of this remark. 
Scores of merchants have paid, in these Institutions, 
the penalty of a devotion to business which robbed 
them of their weekly rest. ' The brain will not hear 
the continued tension of the Counting-room — the 
feverish excitement of an insatiate craving after 
wealth. It gets dizzy with looking for ever at figures 
and calculations, flitting from one speculation to an¬ 
other, counting its losses, anticipating its gains, con¬ 
triving new schemes, plotting and counter-plotting 
against competitors, all its energies on the stretch, 
all its time swallowed up, its whole being concentrated 
in the one inexorable passion of accumulation; — how 
is it possible that the brain should stand all this ? 
“I should have been a dead man,” said a distinguished 
financier and capitalist, referring to the memorable 
epoch of ’37, a had it not been for the Sabbath. 
Obliged to work from morning till night through the 


336 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


whole week, I felt on Saturday, especially on Satur¬ 
day afternoon, as if I must have rest. It was like 
going into a dense fog. Everything looked dark and 
gloomy, as if nothing could he saved. I dismissed " 
all, and kept the Sabbath in the good old way. On 
Monday it was all sunshine. But had it not been for 
the Sabbath, I have no doubt I should have been in 
my grave.” There was sound philosophy as well as 
piety in his course. Some men would have said he 
“lost a day” every week by it. He knew that a 
clear head for six days, would be of more value to 
him than an additional twenty-four hours with an 
overtasked and distracted brain; and he took the 
only way to secure it. The common mistake lies in 
overlooking this. Amidst the whirl of business, con¬ 
founded with the magnitude and variety of the cares 
which are pressing upon you, the only want you are 
conscious of, is “more time.” And so, when you 
have used up all your own days, you seize upon that 
day which your beneficent Creator has reserved to 
Himself, (or, which is the same thing, given to you 
in trust,) and appropriate this also to your purposes. 
The Sunday you have taken to mature an “ opera¬ 
tion,” to write some important financial letters, to 
hold a conference with certain friendly brokers, to 
make a trip to New York or Harrisburg — is jotted 
down in your memoranda as so much “ clear gain.” 


SAVING A DAY. 


337 


But no good ever comes, in the long run, of taking 
what does not belong to us. What you have “ gained’ ’ 
in time, you have more than lost in the violence done 
to your mental frame-work, and your consequent inca¬ 
pacity (comparatively speaking) to administer wisely 
the interests you have in hand. The point does not 
admit of proof, but if a guess may be allowed, the 
failure of many a firm is to be charged to the Sunday- 
lines on our railroads. I do not allude to those 
“ Excursion -trains” so needful, as certain philan¬ 
thropists contend, to the “ relaxation” of the working- 
classes, which often bring back their passengers at 
evening, draggled and worn out, and all the worse in 
health, purse, and morals, for their day’s “ pleasur¬ 
ing.” I speak of the strictly business-jaunts of mer¬ 
cantile men, who, to a save time,” turn the Sabbath 
into a day of travel. It must frequently happen with 
others, as with the financier just quoted, that Satur¬ 
day afternoon finds their affairs all in a “fog,” or, in 
any event, finds them so weary or so excited, as to be 
quite disqualified for the calm solution of any com¬ 
mercial problem. If they were content to use their 
“ rest-day” as a rest, its hallowed influences would 
recruit their strength, allay their perturbation, restore 
their powers to their proper balance, and prepare 
them to grapple with difficulties on Monday in a very 
different condition from that in which they retired to 
29 


338 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

their homes on Saturday evening. But suppose they 
carry their perplexities (or their brilliant projects of 
self-aggrandizement, as the case may be,) to their 
pillows, pore over them all their Sabbath morning, 
with the same servile and absorbing devotion they 
lavished upon them through the week, and, in the 
afternoon, throw themselves into the cars and hurry 
off to New York to consummate on the morrow, the 
measures they have digested: — will it be a strange 
thing if, in the sequel, a policy thus begotten shall 
prove an opprobrium and a vexation to its authors ? 
And can it be doubted, that this precise form of Sab¬ 
bath-breaking has had a potential agency in the ruin 
of very many of the firms which have become bank-' 
rupt in our cities? A candid investigation of our 
commercial disasters, could not fail to set in its true 
light this too popular expedient for “ saving a day.” 
It would show our merchants, that in the long run, 
all the days thus “ saved,” were pretty certain to gravi¬ 
tate to the debit side of the Profit and Loss Account. 
And it might satisfy them of what they are so a slow 
of heart to believe” on the authority of the Bible, 
that success and failure even in temporal matters, are 
closely interwoven with the manner in which the Sab¬ 
bath is observed. (See Isa. 56 : 2. 58: 13,14. Neh. 
13: 15 — 22, and various parallel passages.) 

This, however, is but a part of the truth. A well- 


MENTAL CULTURE. 


339 


spent Sabbath does much more for the mind than 
secure to it needful rest and refreshment. It helps 
to counteract that cramping and mercenary tendency 
so often alluded to, as incident to a life of trafficking. 
It supplies in a measure those opportunities for intel¬ 
lectual culture, the want of which merchants so fre¬ 
quently deplore — and that , without their resorting 
to any pursuits which are incompatible with the 
sacredness of the day. A simple change of scene or 
occupation is useful to all the powers. Our percep¬ 
tive and reasoning faculties, if kept to a monotonous 
routine of subjects, lose either their vigour or their 
symmetry. You can well understand what sort of a 
mind a boy would have, who should study nothing 
but arithmetic, or nothing but orthography, from 
one year’s end to another. And the case must be 
still worse with an individual whose whole time and 
thoughts are absorbed from New Year’s to Christmas 
in buying and selling. Every merchant knows the 
relief derived from a summer’s excursion into the 
country or to the sea-shore. You return from these 
rambles not simply with improved health, but with a 
sensible increase of mental activity and energy. 
Fresh air and exercise have done their share of this; 
but they have noF done it all. Ins^ad of looking 
for ever at Ledgers, and counters, and shelves of 
ginghams and calicoes, and packing-boxes, and drays. 


34tf THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

you have been looking upon the green fields, and the 
ocean, and the starry firmament. You have been saun¬ 
tering through the woods, climbing mountains, display¬ 
ing your awkward equestrianism on country horses, 
riding in waggons without springs over country roads, 
making hay with the farmers for amusement, shoot¬ 
ing, angling, sailing, bathing, sleeping — watching 
the endless phases of human life at a watering-place— 
the grave, the gay, the consequential, the profound, 
the taciturn, the flippant, the choice few whose ster¬ 
ling worth and attractive manners make a ready place 
for them in every group and coterie — and you have 
come back from your rustication, all the better for 
the very trifles which have served to amuse you. 
The secret of this, is, that you have thrown off for a 
while the drag-chain of business, and given mind and 
body a holiday. Your established trains of thought 
have been broken in upon. Goods and customers 
and discounts and bills payable, and the other com¬ 
mon-places which constitute your daily intellectual 
rations during so large a portion of the year, have 
been replaced, for the time, with condiments of a 
very different character. New objects have called 
dormant powers into exercise. The indomitable trade- 
spirit has beeivnitigated by a larger development of 
the social sympathies. Taste and imagination have 
begun to flutter their pinions. And you have returned 


BROADER VIEWS OF LIFE. 


341 


to your Counting-Houses, with broader views of life 
and a juster consciousness of your powers, than you 
had before you took this vacation. 

Let this illustrate what the Sabbath will do for 
you — what it actually is doing for all who keep it 
properly. One of its most obvious and uniform 
effects, is to enlarge one’s horizon. As you sit from 
day to day in your counting-rooms, or make your 
diurnal visit to the Exchange, or lose yourselves in 
abstruse calculations, or hurry through one transac¬ 
tion after another with your customers and agents, 
you are very apt to suppose that what you see and 
hear and feel around you, is the world; that this 
great domain of commerce, (“great,” as you view it,) 
comprises the centre and circumference of your being; 
and that, so matters prosper here, you need not con¬ 
cern yourselves about objects and interests which 
“lie beyond.” The day of rest dispels this illusion. 
It takes you to an eminence which shows you how 
insignificant a portion of “the world” the realm of 
merchandize is, and how fatally you wrong your own 
intellectual nature, by shutting it up among the ships 
and spindles of commerce. Not only does it suspend 
the current of secular thought and feeling which is 
wearing such deep and jagged channels into your 
moral being through the week, but the themes it 
offers to your contemplation, are the noblest to which 
29* 


342 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the human mind can be directed. “ The instruction 
dispensed on this day” (I use the eloquent language 
of a Working-man) “is of a character calculated to 
expand, refine, and sublimate the mind. It embraces 
a boundless range of topics, from the simplest elements 
of knowledge appreciable by the dullest intellect, to 
the most recondite mysteries that baffle the highest 
reason. It unseals the fountain-head of truth in the 
nature of God. It unlocks the treasures of divine 
philosophy in creation, in providence, and in redemp¬ 
tion. It impresses into its sacred service whatever 
is beautiful in nature, grand in science, and instruc¬ 
tive in art; whatever is pure in ethics, lovely in 
virtue, and sublime in revelation; whatever is moni¬ 
tory in the past, perilous in the present, and inspirit¬ 
ing in the future. It leads the mind backward to the 
ages before the flood, to the paradisaical state of man, 
to the origin of the universe, and thence to the vast 
solitudes of a past eternity ; or it urges the shrinking 
spirit forwards through the valley of the shadow of 
death — through the dark and populous empire of the 
grave — into the august presence of the Judge of all 
the earth — to the home of the beatified — to the 
pandemonium of the wicked — and outwards into the 
immensities of the everlasting future ! It addresses 
itself to all the faculties and passions of the soul; it 
illumines the understanding, sobers the judgment, 


DOMESTIC RE-UNIONS. 


843 


thrills the heart, softens the feelings, energises the 
conscience, and sanctifies the deepest affections of our 
mysterious nature.” * 

It is impossible for any person of the least candour 
to contemplate this process, without feeling that a 
well-spent Sabbath is of the highest value in pro¬ 
moting the intellectual culture of individuals and the 
general diffusion of knowledge among a community. 

Its importance to the mercantile classes in another 
view, as restoring them for one day in seven to their 
families , and giving them, even at the busiest seasons, 
opportunities for those domestic duties and enjoyments 
of which they are much of the time deprived, must be 
too apparent to escape notice. This is, in fact, one 
of the most interesting and grateful aspects in which 
the Merchant's Sabbath can be viewed. No man 
need be a stranger in his own house, nor a cipher in 
respect to the training of his children, who has his 
periodical day of rest at his control. Nor are there 
any families bound together by such tender and 
enduring ties, as those which appreciate these weekly 
“re-unions,” and keep the day in a spirit of cheerful 
piety and true household fellowship. 

But I must waive this theme for another still more 
important. The danger which waits upon you in all 

* “ Heaven } s Antidote to the Curse of Labour”: the First 
of the “ Prize-Essays on the Sabbath.” 



344 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the walks of trade — the sin which spreads its toils 
around your feet, and beguiles you onward in the 
road to ruin — is that of neglecting your salvation. 
The tempter plies you with the insidious plea, that 
you have “ no time” for religion, until you come at 
length to believe this with a confidence which repels 
alike the solicitations of the Gospel and the warnings 
of Providence. It would be very easy to expose the 
fallacy of this notion even as regards the six working 
days: for it were wiser and better to neglect business, 
property, family, everything earthly, than to neglect 
the soul. But it is not necessary to do this. Chris¬ 
tianity does not demand it: its tendency is, rather, 
to make men better merchants, better husbands and 
fathers, better citizens, and more thoroughly qualified 
for the duties proper to these relations. And, then, 
as if to meet this very difficulty of a “ want of time” 
for your spiritual concerns, it has given you the 
weekly rest to be appropriated primarily to these 
interests. Foreseeing that business, if permitted, 
would monopolize your whole time, and cheat you 
out of all opportunity to prepare for heaven, God was 
pleased to put the seal of a peculiar sacredness upon 
every seventh day, and to convey it to you in trust 
for this specific purpose. He “made the Sabbath” 
for you, that you might not have it to say, “ I have 
no time to repent and make my peace with God.” 


A MUNIFICENT GIFT. 


345 


He shut it in from the encroachments of avarice, 
from the usurpations of ambition, from the seductions 
of sensual pleasure, from the exactions of authority, 
from the turbulence and impiety of a selfish, grasping, 
atheistic world, from all the multitudinous influences 
which are combined to keep man in an interminable 
subjection to sin and Satan — he shut it in by his 
own omnipotence, that you, and all his creatures, 
might he able constantly to recruit your strength for 
the duties and temptations of life, and to prepare for 
death, judgment, and eternity. So munificent.a gift 
should he faithfully applied to its prescribed objects. 
To pervert or neglect it, is to superadd the guilt of a 
base ingratitude, to the criminality of a most perilous 
neglect of your own souls. The Sabbath comes to 
you as a messenger of mercy, as the harbinger of 
peace and hope and heaven. It spreads before you 
those sacred pages written all over with words of 
truth and grace, and supplying the only chart which 
can conduct you to the skies. It brings you to the 
Sanctuary that you may hear of God and redemption, 
of heaven and hell, of the “ great white throne” and 
the awards of eternity. It leads you into your cham¬ 
bers, that you may “ commune with your own hearts,” 
and invoke the Divine Spirit to cleanse you from sin 
with the blood of the cross and make you sincere and 
humble followers of Christ. It places you in the 


346 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


midst of your households, and, while it enkindles 
your mutual affection, revives the impression of your 
responsibility as well for their spiritual as their secular 
training. It admonishes you of your stewardship, 
and shows you whose hand it is that has prospered 
you, and to what uses it behooves you to appropriate 
your wealth. It deadens your grovelling attach¬ 
ments, refines and elevates your feelings, brings you 
into fellowship with the wisest and best of the race, 
and makes you “ co-workers with God” himself in 
saving and blessing a lost world. — All this the Sab¬ 
bath does for every one who remembers it, “ to keep 
it holy.” Many among you have found it so in your 
own experience. Let those who have hitherto neg¬ 
lected it, make the trial, and they will learn, as they 
never learned before, the import of that saying^ 
“ The Sabbath was made for man ! ” 


RETIRING FROM BUSINESS. 


347 


ICnture <£ent[i. 

THE TRUE RICHES. — LIVING TO DO GOOD. 

In the progress of these Lectures, I have had 
frequent occasion to refer to the subject of retiring 
from business. This phrase has a definitive signifi¬ 
cation, which is well understood. As a practical 
question, it is frequently involved in great embarrass¬ 
ment ; but there are few Merchants who would will¬ 
ingly give up the hope of being one day released 
from the cares and responsibilities of the Counting- 
House. To prepare for this change is, with many 
of you, the grand employment of life; and you are 
impatiently reckoning the years which must elapse, 
before you can have amassed a fortune which will 
justify you in renouncing the bustling domain of 
commerce, for the repose and comfort of a genial 
Home. I censure not these longings. I see but one 
thing to condemn in your calculations. It is, that 
you are apt to restrict your views of “retiring from 
business,” to so narrow a compass, and to make your 


348 THE BIBLE IN TIIE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

arrangements for the thing itself on so meagre and 
insufficient a scale. You think of it only as a matter 
of choice — as the privilege of the favoured few who 
may rise to affluence — and as comprising merely the 
evening of an active life. But the words may fairly 
he taken to mean a great deal more than this. You 
are all to “retire from business”—whether you 
desire it or not — and your season of respite will 
have no measurement short of the cycles of eter¬ 
nity ! When it is added, that this discharge from 
the pursuits which now engross you, may conae at 
any moment — long before you maybe “ready” to 
give up business — the question will be set before 
you in something of the grandeur and solemnity 
which really belong to it. 

If this be sober verity, and not fiction, it is the 
most obvious and urgent duty of every individual, 
to inquire into his state of preparation for the 
scenes before him. You have known men give 
up merchandize prematurely, leaving their affairs 
involved, or with resources quite inadequate to their 
support: and you have had your own opinions as to 
their prudence and sagacity. But what would be 
your condition, if an unseen power should now inter¬ 
pose and withdraw you from life itself? Are you 
equipped for that realm to which life is the mere 
vestibule ? Have you laid by a competence of those 


FATAL IMPROVIDENCE. 


349 


“true riches” which will avail for jour support 
and comfort there ? Or, are you guilty of the neglect 
you rebuke in others, the only difference being that 
their improvidence has respect to this transitory state, 
yours, to the endless future of the soul ? 

You will not, in reply to questions like these, point 
to your capacious warehouses, your well-filled coffers, 
your elegant mansions, and your honourable position 
in the community. This might answer, if the inquiry 
were, “ Shall we now 6 retire’ for the few remaining 
years or days that may remain to us of life? ” But 
what have these matters to do with retiring for 
eternity? Who is so visionary as to think of 
transferring the implements and avocations of com¬ 
merce to that world ? or of resuming there the strife 
for the gold which perisheth ? Our great Epic Poet, 
in his sketch of that sublime spectacle, the Council 
in Pandemonium, has, indeed, made Mammon say, 

“This desert soil 

Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold; 

Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise 

Magnificence ; and what can Heaven show more ? ” 

But the only Teacher empowered to speak of that 
world, has presented us with another portraiture 
eminently affecting and suggestive — that of a man 
once “clothed in purple and fine linen,” lifting up 
his eyes in torment, and pleading in vain for a drop 
30 


350 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


of water! This spectacle may stand in place of 
a thousand homilies, to illustrate the madness of 
living merely to acquire wealth and revel in luxury. 
There can be no greater folly than for a man to 
place his happiness in objects and interests from 
which he must soon be for ever ravished. The 
loss of his idols, painful as that may be, is 
but a small part of the inevitable penalty of his 
error. The blow which strips him of his posses¬ 
sions, leaves his whole moral being under the sway 
of those evil passions which have long tyrannised 
over him. He goes into eternity, the wretched minion 
of avarice, or at least the bond-slave of a sordid secu¬ 
larly — all his principles, all his habits, all his aims, 
susceptibilities, and desires, adjusted to this world, 
and utterly alien from the constitution of things in 
the spiritual empire of which he is henceforth to be a 
denizen. Could he destroy his identity, or annihilate 
his memory, existence might be tolerable. But this 
cannot be. The passions he has nurtured into such 
gigantic strength, are a part of his being; and now, 
deprived of their proper external objects, and ener¬ 
gized by an avenging conscience, they will turn upon 
the soul with unmitigable fury, and “ their torment 
will be as the torment of a scorpion.” For it is no 
arbitrary decree, but a law of humanity, that “ what¬ 
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Nor 


ERROR IN A SPECIOUS GARB. 


351 


does it furnish any ground to impeach the justice, or 
even the goodness of the Deity, that He should aban¬ 
don men hereafter to the retributive mastery of those 
appetites, which were permitted to usurp His authority 
over them while here. 

In an enlightened community like our own, the 
grossness of the conception, that mere wealth can 
prepare a man for that final abdication of business 
of which we have been speaking, may go far to 
prevent its obtaining currency. But there is another 
sentiment fraught with equal peril to the soul, which 
comes clad in the garb of an angel of light, and is 
certain of a cordial greeting among the mercantile 
classes. The opinion to which I allude, may, not 
improbably, have fortified itself, in some minds, from 
the very discussions that have occupied us in these 
Lectures; for it can readily pervert to its own pur¬ 
poses, arguments designed to expose its fallacy. 

My object has been, to get the Bible installed in 
the Counting-House, as the only arbiter of duty, 
and the regulator of all the diversified concerns of 
Commerce. The domain we have been traversing 
together, is that rather of morality than of theology. 
The whole burden of these discourses has been in the 
direction of practical godliness — the actual exempli¬ 
fication of veracity, integrity, diligence, moderation, 
and kindness, in the daily routine of traffic. And 


352 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


the ready conclusion which some auditors may deduce 
from these premises — the speculation too rife in the 
walks of commerce wherever her masts or her ware- 
rooms are to he found — is, that a compliance with 
these precepts, is all that is required in order to 
salvation : “ this do, and thou shalt live.” We 
derogate nothing from the intrinsic excellence nor 
the indispensable importance of these virtues, when 
we admonish you that this is a most serious and fatal 
error. The Bible challenges a control over all your 
relations and occupations, and exacts a rigid confor¬ 
mity to its pure ethics in every transaction, and even 
in every word and thought, of your lives; but it is 
careful to apprize you of two things which' are funda¬ 
mental to the Gospel system. One is, that all obedi¬ 
ence, to be acceptable, must be animated by faith in 
the Redeemer and love to God: and the other is, that 
by no possibility can our own works avail to our 
pardon and salvation. “By the deeds of the law 
shall no flesh be justified.” Our integrity may be 
unimpeachable, our lives may be radiant with acts of 
unostentatious charity, a whole community may unite 
in applauding our virtues; but if our hope of heaven 
have no better foundation than this, it is built upon 
the sand. For we must be saved either by works or 
by grace: the two cannot coalesce. “If by grace, 
then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no 


NO SALVATION BY THE LAW. 


353 


more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more 
grace : otherwise work is no more work.” If we elect 
to try works instead of grace — to get to heaven 
through the merit of our own obedience — then, 
clearly, we must obey the Divine law 'perfectly: for 
an imperfect obedience can entitle no one to its 
rewards. But who can meet the full requisitions of 
a law which extends to the thoughts and intents of 
the heart, forbids the slightest improper feeling or 
emotion, and enjoins a holiness as immaculate as that 
of the seraphim before the throne? The thing is 
impossible. We can make no remote approximation 
to it. Human nature is radically diseased, and 
demands as radical a cure. The very examples 
■which seem to approach nearest to the Scripture 
standard of morality, are not infrequently vitiated 
by a latent element of self-righteousness which must 
make them “an abomination in the sight of God.” 
His eye is upon the heart; and that it is His own 
prerogative to renew. 

“ The transformation of apostate man 
From fool to wise, from earthly to divine, 

Is work for him that made him.” 

This work the Spirit of God accomplishes. It is 
an essential step in that free salvation which is the 
only alternative to the delusive and hopeless scheme 
of salvation by works. Simultaneously with this 
30 * 


354 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

change, the Spirit convinces the sinner of sin, shows 
him the corruption of his heart, the imperfection of 
his obedience, the criminality of his unbelief; wakes 
up in his bosom an ingenuous sorrow for his sins; 
and constrains him, as an humble penitent, to cast 
himself upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. 
Trusting in the atoning blood and the finished righte¬ 
ousness of Christ for salvation, he obtains as a free 
gift, that plenary pardon which he never could have 
earned by his obedience, and that peace of mind 
which can be found no where in the universe but at 
the Cross. Henceforward he “loves much” because 
he has “much forgiven.” He carries the spirit of 
true religion into his life, and faithfully, though still 
imperfectly, endeavours to keep the law of God. His 
integrity, truthfulness, and benevolence, now rest upon 
an impregnable basis. And the sentiment which ani¬ 
mates his conduct, is no longer the mercenary temper 
of a servant, but the loving gratitude and loyalty of 
a child. He serves God, not that he may be saved, 
but because he is saved. And his obedience, conse¬ 
quently, is impressed with a breadth and a compre¬ 
hension, a generosity and a cheerfulness, as remote 
as possible from the penurious homage he formerly 
rendered, while trying to merit salvation by his own 
works — a fellow-labourer therein, though of a more 
dignified character, with the ascetic iterating his 


THE TRUE PLACE OF GOOD WORKS. 355 


parrot-like devotions in a damp cell, with the Moham¬ 
medan on his burning pilgrimage to Mecca, and with 
the Hindoo swinging through the air by a hook 
inserted in the sinews of his body. This is the true 
place of practical morality in the Christian scheme— 
not the foundation, but the superstructure; not the 
roots and the trunk, but the foliage and the fruit — 
the effect and evidence of salvation, not its procuring 
cause. A due apprehension of this truth would dispel 
the precarious hopes to which very many are now 
trusting, and turn off their thoughts from .their own 
imaginary or superficial goodness, to Him who is 
equally able and willing to “ save to the uttermost 
all who come unto God by him.” Just in proportion 
as the mercantile classes are brought under the influ¬ 
ence of a genuine faith in Christ, will the Bible exert 
its sacred prerogative in their Counting-Houses, and 
their current secularities effloresce with the graces 
which cement and embellish the social state. Herein 
too consists the panoply they require for an ex¬ 
change of worlds — that preparation for “retiring” 
ultimately and for ever from business, and all that 
pertains to it, which every man should make, who 
shrinks from going portionless into eternity. There 
is nothing in eternity — nothing in the dark and 
chill passage which leads to it — to intimidate the 
soul that is united to Christ. It is all one empire; 


356 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

its several provinces acknowledge the same Sove¬ 
reign; that Sovereign is “the Lord our Righteous¬ 
ness,” who has all power in heaven and on earth; 
and the pillars of his throne must fall, before he will 
suffer a soul that has trusted in Him to perish. How 
well His people are fortified against all possible want 
or suffering for the future, can be known only to 
those who have considered the resources of Omnipo¬ 
tence. In receiving them into a vital union with 
himself, Christ endowed them with his own inex¬ 
haustible wealth: they‘became “ heirs of God and 
joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” —language which 
overpasses our comprehension, and makes one exclaim, 
in thinking of the believer’s heritage, 

“ My soul, with all the powers I boast, 

Is in the boundless prospect lost! ” 

These treasures, comprising, as they do, the hopes 
and consolations of the Gospel here, and its ineffable 
and eternal rewards hereafter, may well be styled 
the “TRUE RICHES.” Unlike earthly riches, they 
have a substantial and indestructible character. They 
never deceive. No one is ensnared by them. No 
one is disappointed. No one who has trusted in 
them, is liable to have his property wrested from 
him. They satisfy the soul. They fill its utmost 
capacities. No moth nor rust can corrupt them. 
No thief can break through and steal them. They 


THE INALIENABLE HERITAGE. 


357 


resist the corrosion of time. They survive all changes 

— even death itself. The departing spirit, compelled 
by an inexorable law to relinquish everything else, 
even to the very tabernacle in which it has dwelt, 
soars aloft, bearing its treasures in triumph to the 
skies — not merely retaining all it has previously 
owned, but invested, at that moment, with fresh hon¬ 
ours and estates as much transcending in extent and 
splendour the proudest demesnes of earthborn royalty, 
as these excel the veriest hovels of barbarism. And 
as it hastens to join the white-robed company of the 
ransomed, and to cast its crown at the Redeemer’s 
feet, those pregnant words in its' charter, just begin 
to disclose their profound and wonderful significance 

— u ALL THINGS ARE YOURS!” 

I may possibly seem to you, in this glance at the 
only inalienable portion of the soul, to have wandered 
quite away from the range of topics which immedi¬ 
ately concern you as Merchants. I might answer, 
that although Merchants, you are men, and, as such, 
heirs of eternity, and vitally concerned in the acqui¬ 
sition of a heritage beyond the grave. But I choose 
rather to avail myself of the state of feeling just 
hinted at, as an indication of the repugnance, or at 
least the want of congeniality, there is, between the 
prevailing tone of the commercial world, and the 
spirit of true Christianity. That religion of which I 


358 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


have been speaking, as indispensable to prepare you 
for “ retiring” from all sublunary affairs, is not a 
loose garment, to be caught up and gathered hur¬ 
riedly around you in the moment of your dissolution. 
If we would be sustained by the consolations of the 
Bible in death, we must live by its precepts. And, 
in particular, as regards yourselves, its paramount 
authority must be recognized in all the departments 
of commerce, and the settled feeling of the trading 
classes must be — “ I am not ashamed of the Gospel 
of Christ.” Business is not to be prosecuted for its 
own sake. Commerce is one of God’s agencies for 
governing and blessing the world. Its silver and 
gold, its mills and factories, its canals and railways, 
its fleets and cities, are all His. The multitudinous 
tribes of human beings occupied in its various callings, 
“ live and move and have their being in Him.” The 
allegiance they owe Him, comprehends all their pow¬ 
ers, property, plans, time, influence. The just requi¬ 
sition He lays upon them, is, that they make His 
glory the ultimate end of their lives; that they regu¬ 
late their conduct by His Word; and that they carry 
the spirit of genuine piety into all their transactions. 
What less could He require ? What other code would 
comport with our relations to Him and to our fellow- 
creatures ? What other principles would consist with 
our own happiness? These elements are the only 


ATHEISTIC TENDENCIES. 


359 


proper corrective to the debasing effects of commerce. 
Dignified and controlled by religious principle, it is 
one of the most beneficent institutions which adorn 
the globe. But divorced from this alliance, it is sur¬ 
charged with mischief. The majestic tides which 
sweep through its crowded thoroughfares, bear men 
away from God. The constant tendency is to nourish 
their inferior appetites, to make them set an inordi¬ 
nate value upon money and the objects money will 
procure, to impair their reverence for the Deity, to 
weaken their sense of moral responsibility, to blunt 
their consciences against the reproofs of Scripture, 
and, in a word, to shut out eternity from their thoughts 
and degrade them into practical Atheists. No human 
power or skill can cope with this evil. The current 
will overwhelm your dykes, as the ocean does the 
puny structures of children on the strand. 

“ The still small voice is wanted. He must speak, 

Whose word leaps forth at once to its effect; 

Who calls for things that are not, and they come.” 

He has spoken. And his word, lodged in the heart, 
raises the only successful barrier against the encroach¬ 
ments of the monopolising trade-spirit. Let it, then, 
have free course. In theory at least, we have a prin¬ 
ciple in religion, the principle of faith , which can 
master the strongest passions of the human breast. 
It has mastered them all — fear, love, revenge, lust, 


360 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


pride, avarice, have yielded to it in instances without 
number. Its benign influence is felt in all the great 
centres of commerce. And there are firms in every 
city which might be cited as most honourably exem- 
plifying its benign results, when admitted to its legiti¬ 
mate place in a business-life. But these are the 
exceptions. The Bible is only beginning to make its 
way into the Counting-House. Many who imagine 
themselves to be quite ready for it, who even suppose 
they have long' ago received it, have a very crude 
conception of what this involves. They think simply 
of conducting their establishments with integrity, 
avoiding every approach to deception and falsehood, 
requiring all their subordinates to be truthful and 
courteous, fulfilling their engagements with scrupulous 
fidelity, and shunning all collateral speculations. This 
is well, very well, as far as it goes. But if they pause 
here, the Bible is not yet “ enthroned” in their count¬ 
ing-rooms. Nothing will satisfy it but an earnest, 
aggressive Christianity, which shall be ever intent 
upon doing good, to the utmost measure of its capa¬ 
city. It is as much the law of the “true riches” to 
diffuse themselves, as it is of cupidity to hoard. And 
the more a merchant possesses of this incorruptible 
wealth, the more he will be inclined to share it with 
others. The opportunities for this, in an extensive 
business, are equally varied and important. 


A FIELD, WHITE TO THE HARVEST. 361 

To revert, for example, to a topic formerly dis¬ 
cussed — you have, in each of your great establish¬ 
ments, a numerous tenantry, sustaining to you a 
relation analogous to that of your own families; 
constituting, in fact, a second household. Your Bible 
will remind you that this is the ordering of Provi¬ 
dence. In the successive steps which have conducted 
you to your present position, you may have been 
chiefly influenced by selfish motives. But an invisible 
hand has led you on, until you find yourself the centre 
of a little community, who are your daily and inti¬ 
mate companions, who go and come at your bidding, 
and whose exertions are contributing to your wealth. 
As a Christian man, you will not fail to ask, “ Why 
is this ? For what end has Providence committed this 
large and growing business to my hands, and gathered 
around me this group of Young Men? How is it 
that one youth from Tennessee, another from Ken¬ 
tucky, a third from Ohio, a fourth from Missouri, a 
salesman from Virginia, a book-keeper from Mary¬ 
land, have all been guided to my counting-house and 
confided to my tutelage?” These are grave and 
interesting questions. The longer you ponder them, 
the more you will be disposed to say, “ This is the 
finger of God ! ” And the less will you be disposed 
to decline the mission to which the dispensation so 
obviously calls you. A base cupidity might thrust it 
31 


362 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

upon you as the one predominant and daily inquest, 
“ How can I turn the services of these clerks to the 
best advantage, and make the most money out of 
them? ” But your inquiry will rather be, “ How can 
I do the most good to these young men?” It is, 
certainly, a noble field of usefulness which God has 
opened to you; and if you cultivate it as you ought, 
you will not regret your fidelity, when you come to 
see the sheaves gathered into the garner. How you 
are to do this, must be left to your own enlightened 
discretion. With a clear impression of your obliga¬ 
tions and an abiding sense of the love of Christ, you 
will not be at a loss for means and occasions to com¬ 
mend religion to them. Whatever agency you may 
employ, a consistent example must be combined with 
it; for young men are shrewd observers, and disposed, 
beyond any other class in society, to insist upon a 
rigid congruity between profession and practice. But 
a really consistent example will rarely be alone. The 
spirit which insures that, will prompt you to kind and 
judicious efforts, as occasion may offer, to bring the 
claims of religion before their minds; and efforts of 
this sort rarely fail of a blessing in the end. 

If the inmates of a commercial house have a 
peculiar claim upon the Christian sympathies of its 
principals, it is not an exclusive claim. Your pro¬ 
fession introduces you to a great variety of persons, 


PHILANTHROPY AT LARGE. 


363 


many of whom it might be possible to reach with a 
wholesome moral influence. We are apt to disparage 
and neglect familiar and incidental opportunities of 
doing good. Great occasions we can improve: they 
have a palpable shape and magnitude: we know how 
to lay hold of them: and they seem worthy of our 
care. But the opportunities which occur in the ordi¬ 
nary routine of life, in buying and selling, and in the 
trivialties of social intercourse, are allowed to glide 
away while we are considering whether it is worth 
our while to improve them. — There has always been 
a class of reformers in the world, whose philanthropy 
confines itself to grand achievements. They are hap¬ 
pily hit off* by Mrs. More in her “History of Mr. 
Fantomf a London tradesman, who turned philoso¬ 
pher, and set about rectifying the world at large, with 
a zeal that left him no heart for cases of individual 
suffering. He would “alter all the laws, and do 
away all the religions, and put an end to all the wars 
in the world.” He would “ abolish all punishments, 
and not leave a single prisoner on the face of the 
globe.” But when applied to by a benevolent neigh¬ 
bour to contribute a trifle towards liberating an unfor¬ 
tunate debtor from prison, he “ had no attention to 
spare to that business, though he would pledge him¬ 
self to produce a plan by which the national debt 
might be paid off in six months.” When asked to 


364 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


co-operate in bringing a tyrannical workhouse-keeper 
to punishment, he excused himself on the ground, 
that u the wrongs of the Poles and the South Ameri¬ 
cans so filled his mind, as to leave him no time to 
attend to such petty grievances.” A poor man’s 
house in his vicinity having taken fire and burnt 
down, he justified his neglect in not going to the 
help of the sufferers, by alleging that he was just 
then “ engaged in a far nobler project than putting 
out a fire in a little thatched cottage” — he was 
“ contriving a scheme to extinguish the fires of the 
Inquisition ! ” Mr. Fantom has his proper archetype 
only amongst the infidel socialists of the day; but 
in the feature of his character presented in these 
extracts, he may stand for the representative of many 
wiser and better men. Perhaps we are all too much 
disposed to make our Christianity a matter, if not of 
Sundays and sacraments, at least of times and seasons, 
and still more of systems and societies. The impera¬ 
tive demand of the age, is, for organized benevolence, 
for “ Institutions”; and it is a demand which must 
be met, unless the Church would see a large part 
even of the territory she has wrested from heresy 
and barbarism revert to its former masters. But we 
must guard against the subtle feeling, that these com¬ 
bined efforts are to supersede private philanthropy ; 
that our contributions to Societies, can absolve us 


CORPORATE AND PERSONAL CHRISTIANITY. 365 


from the obligation of personal exertion. Better to 
abolish all Societies, than that they should absorb 
the benevolence of the Church, and become the sole 
medium of intercommunication between the people of 
God and a perishing world. Christianity will not 
bear to be swathed and splinted up in this fashion. 
You will either crush its life out, and leave it a worth¬ 
less mummy; or it will rend your compresses asunder, 
and reassert its inalienable freedom. It is cause for 
thankfulness that we can do good by proxy in so 
many ways; but it would soon stifle our religion to 
do good only by proxy. It will never do to remit to 
Boards and Associations the exclusive prerogative of 
deciding how, and when, and to what extent, our 
Christianity shall go forth on errands of mercy. 
This were scarcely better than to commit the whole 
business of our salvation to a priest. Our own souls 
would famish under this vicarious sort of piety. It 
is good for us to be brought into contact with the 
errors and wants, the dangers and sufferings, of 
humanity. Our Saviour did this; the apostles did 
it; all the early Christians did it; the whole genius 
of the New Dispensation presupposes it. The very 
lowest conception of the Christian system which can 
be formed, must embrace, as one of its radical ele¬ 
ments, the obligation to relieve the necessities and 
contribute to the well-being of others, in every 
31 * 


366 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


practicable way. And any wish to be released from 
this obligation, must discredit the sincerity of the 
profession with which it is allied. 

In your case, it is not “ suffering” which appeals 
to you in the ordinary course of your business; but 
there must be many persons thrown in your way 
whom you might benefit by an occasional friendly 
word or kind office — by placing a Bible in their 
hands, by encouraging them to a due observance of 
the Sabbath, by a timely caution against profaneness, 
drinking, or idle habits, by manifesting an interest in 
their families. Something, too, might be done in the 
way of reaching your customers. The Counting- 
House, I am aware, is not a place for “ preaching” ; 
nor is there anything more disgusting than that 
loquacious, pharisaical religion, which is for ever 
spreading its tawdry plumage, and mixing up the 
most sacred themes with the common topics of busi¬ 
ness. But there seems no sufficient reason why a 
Christian merchant should meet with a set of gentle¬ 
men from different parts of the country, year after 
year, without opening his lips to them on the most 
important of all subjects; still less, why he should 
permit them, season by season, to spend one or more 
Sabbaths in the city without tendering them the hos¬ 
pitalities of his pew in the house of God. And what 
hinders but that our opulent importers should have 


SHIP-OWNERS AND SAILORS. 


367 


an eye to the crews of their ships, and try to do some 
good among them ? This, it is true, is “ the Cap¬ 
tain’s charge.” But it is your office to select your 
Captains, and to decide whether your vessels shall go 
to sea under the care of debauchees and tyrants, or 
of men of sound morals and humane tempers. And 
it were not unworthy of your position to see that 
their sailors are supplied, each of them, with a 
Bible; and to take some pains, on their return to 
port, to have them directed to proper boarding-houses, 
and told where they might find a mariners’ chapel on 
a Sunday. 

All these are, properly speaking, professional du¬ 
ties : they come in your way as Merchants, and you 
cannot well pretermit them, without a positive repres¬ 
sion of your religious instincts. But there may be 
scenes and objects outside of your beaten thorough¬ 
fares, which have a claim upon your sympathy. 
Every great city embraces a vast amount of degra¬ 
dation and wretchedness — heterogeneous hordes that 
are but a step removed from savage life. In 
close agglomeration with its wealth, refinement, and 
intelligence, its splendid mansions and luxurious 
entertainments, are masses of ignorance, poverty, 
vice, and suffering, such as can be found no where 
else within the verge of civilization. Indeed, the 
very magnitude of the evils to be provided for, and 


368 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


the frequency with which examples of crime and 
misery pass under one’s notice in such a community, 
have a tendency to check the flow of benevolence. 
If it were possible to take up a small section of one 
of the worst courts or lanes of Philadelphia or New 
York, and transplant it with its miserable tenantry 
in their rags and filth and vices and sicknesses, into 
some quiet rural town of two or three thousand inha¬ 
bitants, it would become at once the paramount object 
of interest there: every family would feel concerned 
to do something for their relief, and every bosom 
would thrill with emotions of pity or of horror. But 
we can pass these very objects on the side-walks by 
scores, without noticing them. We can traverse whole 
squares lined with their dwellings, and be conscious 
only of some transitory feelings of sadness and dis¬ 
gust which we are but too happy to throw off by 
hurrying away from the neighbourhood as fast as 
possible. Yet these are our fellow - mortals, with 
minds as susceptible of cultivation, and souls as 
precious, as our own. They are more than this: 
they are our neighbours, constituent parts of the 
same community with ourselves, living within sight 
of our schools and sanctuaries, and therefore com¬ 
mitted, in some sort, by Providence, to our guardian¬ 
ship. To say that they are your charge specifically 
— that it belongs to the mercantile body to look after 


HUMANITY ABOVE MERCHANDIZE. 


369 


all the vagrancy and depravity of the cities — would 
be very unreasonable. But considering that these 
cities are essentially commercial in their character, 
that they owe their growth and opulence and power 
to trade, it is certainly equitable that the mercantile 
classes should assume a liberal share of this responsi¬ 
bility. In any event, Christianity requires that you 
should bestow upon this work whatever personal 
attention and labour you can command; and that 
the abstruse social problems forced upon us by these 
aspects of pauperism, should have the benefit of all 
the experience and sagacity you can bring to the 
solution of them. It will not answer to become so 
engrossed with traffic as to lose sight of the claims 
of humanity; so absorbed with questions of finance 
and merchandize, as not to see the throngs of death¬ 
less and accountable beings around you, who are 
hastening to eternity without God and without hope, 
and preparing, it may be, to confront you at the bar 
of Christ, for your neglect of their souls. What is 
all your merchandize, all your riches, all your social 
influence, compared with the meanest and unwor- 
thiest of these objects! There is not a vagrant in 
the vilest haunt of the vilest vicinage of the city, 
whose salvation would not be worth more than all 
the ships and warehouses of our metropolis, nor 
whose perdition, a more terrible catastrophe than the 


370 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


destruction of all the implements and ensigns of your 
commercial greatness. This will fall upon your ears, 
doubtless, as a trite sentiment. You “ know it 
already. No sane man would think of proposing 
money, or diadems, or anything earthly, as an equi¬ 
valent for the soul.” But while every one “knows” 
this, how few have risen to the point of treating it as 
a reality — of living as though they knew it! How 
rare are the Counting-Houses in which it is felt with 
the force of an inwrought, practical conviction ! Even 
those in your ranks who are most fully imbued with 
the spirit of the Gospel, must be painfully conscious 
of a tendency to let the things which are seen, blind 
them to the things which are unseen — of allowing 
business to blunt their spiritual sensibilities, and chill 
their zeal in seizing upon opportunities of usefulness. 
And so it comes to pass, that while Commerce can be 
charged with neither indifference nor parsimony in 
this matter, her aggregate efforts in behalf of the 
mendicancy of our cities, are as incommensurate 
with her resources, as they are with the evils to be 
removed. What she lacks, is, the Bible in her 
Counting-rooms. 

The great lesson I have wished to enforce in these 
discursive remarks, is, that we should live to do good. 
We are not to confine our exertions to one set of 
objects, nor to periodical occasions, but be always 


OUR GREAT EXEMPLAR. 


371 


ready, as we can find or make opportunities, to 
minister to the well-being of our fellow-creatures or 
to the prosperity of religion. It is one of the most 
beautiful pictures the inspired writers have given us 
of the Founder of our holy religion — a biography 
in a single sentence — “He went about doing 
good.” And if we would approve ourselves to he 
His disciples, we must cherish His spirit and tread 
in His steps. There is no incompatibility between 
the two great classes of interests which solicit our 
benevolence, the physical and the spiritual, the neces¬ 
sities of the poor and the salvation of souls. “ Expe¬ 
rience demonstrates that the heart which responds to 
the cries of a world perishing through lack of know¬ 
ledge, is the heart which most readily thrills at the 
cry of bodily want; that those who care most for the 
souls of the heathen, are among the most active agents 
of patriotic and local charities; that genuine Christian 
charity, while it leaves no object unattempted on 
account of its vastness, overlooks none on account of 
its minuteness. Copying, in this respect, the example 
of Him who, in his way to the cross to save a world, 
often stood still to give health to the sick, and to wipe 
away the tears of the mourner; sowing, at each step, 
the seeds of those various institutions of mercy, which 
are still springing up in his church; and who, while 
suspended on the cross in the crisis of human redemp- 


872 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

tion, still thought of his filial relation, and tenderly 
provided for a mother’s comfort.” * 

Imbued with this spirit, you will find a genuine 
satisfaction in performing those philanthropic offices 
upon which the Saviour has, both by precept and 
example, impressed so high a value. And the same 
feeling which sends you forth upon these ministra¬ 
tions among the poor, will lead you to write “ Holi¬ 
ness to the Lord,” upon your property. There is 
no lesson which the Church is slower to learn, than 
the true doctrine on this subject; no duties which 
the mass of Christians are more backward in dis¬ 
charging, than those involved in the scriptural idea 
of stewardship. I have dwelt too much in these Lec¬ 
tures on the sin and danger of covetousness, to war¬ 
rant me in expatiating on that topic here. And yet 
I cannot bring the Course to a close, without again 
reminding you, that God has committed your property 
to you in trust for Him, and will hold you to a strict 
responsibility in the management of it. There are 
few themes of higher moment to you, than the moral 
limits of accumulation, and the true use of riches; 
and you will be brought to one or another conclusion 
on these points, according as you examine them by 
the current maxims of commerce, or by the infallible 
utterances of revelation. If you are willing to rely 


* Harris. 



EVANGELICAL MOTIVES. 


3T3 


upon the teachings of the Bible, it will not prescribe 
the precise arithmetical proportion of jour gains which 
shall be set apart to religion. Discarding this prin¬ 
ciple of the old economy, it will reveal to you, rather, 
the character of the Deity, in the plenitude of its 
matchless perfections, as the only rightful and ade¬ 
quate object of your homage. It will unveil to you 
that munificent Providence which has watched over 
you through life, defended you in danger, healed 
you when sick, extricated you from embarrassments, 
retrieved your losses, crowned your business with 
success, gathered around you the endearments of 
your cherished homes, and bestowed upon you the 
institutions and ordinances of a pure Christianity. 
Above all, it will take you to the Cross, and bid you 
look upon that wonder of wonders, the Son oe God 
bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, and 
dying an accursed death that we might live. It will 
show you how, for His sake, your iniquities have 
been blotted out, and your hearts renewed. It will 
remind you of the long-suffering and patience of your 
Heavenly Father in bearing with your provocations; 
of His faithfulness in reproving your errors, and His 
tenderness in recovering you from your falls; of the 
fortitude with which he has nerved you to bear 
reverses, and the consolations with which he has 
assuaged your sorrows. It will conduct you to the 
32 


374 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

verge of the fathomless abyss, and to the borders of 
the land of promise, and afford you some transient 
glimpses of the unutterable misery you have escaped, 
and the everlasting glories in reserve for you. And 
having done all this, it will leave it to your own 
grateful and adoring hearts, to answer the question, 
“ How much owest thou unto my Lord ? ” This is 
the spirit of the New Dispensation; and it is under 
the pressure of motives like these, you are to decide 
what proportion of your revenues shall he laid at the 
Saviour’s feet. He needs, as He has a claim to, the 
utmost resources you can bring to his support. The 
contest He is waging with the powers of darkness, 
He might terminate by an exertion of his omnipo¬ 
tence ; or He might commit the prosecution of it exclu¬ 
sively to His angels. But as our globe is the theatre 
on which it is waged, and the soul of man its object, 
He has chosen to employ our unworthy agency in 
carrjing.it forward. And the question for you to 
decide, is, how far your obligations to the Redeemer 
require you to go, in assisting Him in this conflict 
with His and our enemies. By what form of per¬ 
sonal service, by what measure of pecuniary contri¬ 
bution, are you called upon to attest your loyalty to 
Christ and your sympathy for a perishing world ? 

There are no ends to which money can be applied, 
so honourable and so beneficent as these. The uni- 


FREELY YE HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE. 375 

versal spread of the Gospel, is an object impressed 
with true moral sublimity, and fraught with blessings 
for our race, surpassing all the visions of poetry. It 
will be a greater distinction at the last day to have 
borne even the humblest part in promoting it, than 
it will to have owned a province or wielded a sceptre. 
And, other considerations aside, it is every way worthy 
of the dignity and the opulence of Commerce, that 
she should repay, in a measure, the manifold obliga¬ 
tions she owes to Christianity, by dedicating her exu¬ 
berant resources to this work. It is meet that the 
merchant-princes of our land and of other lands, 
should identify themselves with those great Institu¬ 
tions which are engaged in evangelizing the nations. 
To a certain extent, you have done this. But it 
would be trifling with your intelligence, to suppose 
that you regard the prevailing spirit of Christian 
liberality in business circles, as fully up to the Scrip¬ 
ture standard. Allowing for numerous exceptions, 
the disposition is, to appropriate to religion, simply 
the crumbs which fall from overloaded tables; to give 
the pounds to earth, and the farthings to heaven; 
to lay up imperial fortunes for children, and put off 
w r ith a pittance the millions who are clamouring for 
the bread of life. To complain that there are no 
sacrifices made for the Gospel’s sake, would, in this 
connexion, seem scarcely serious — so far away from 


376 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the actualities of the case, is anything approximating 
to a “sacrifice.” We need not even, at this point, 
speak of retrenching superfluities. The reigning type 
of benevolence may be carried up many degrees with¬ 
out molesting “superfluities.” In truth, the very 
foundations are out of joint. The elementary prin¬ 
ciples of Christian stewardship are not recognized. 
Let these be once lodged in the great heart of Com¬ 
merce, and energized by a baptism of the Spirit, and 
there would be no occasion to go among the merchants 
to solicit funds: the silver and the gold would flow 
into the Lord’s treasury as did the offerings of the 
Hebrews for the building of the tabernacle, until His 
servants might be obliged, with Moses, to bid the 
people desist. 

But the Christian casuist who propagates senti¬ 
ments like these, is certain to have a text of Scripture 
thrust at him from some quarter, to admonish him 
that “ if any provide not for his own, and specially 
for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, 
and is worse than an infidel.” It is a wholesome 
sign that there should prevail, in any community, a 
horror of being classed with “ infidels.” But it must 
be deemed a little curious, that nothing in nature or 
in art should excite this emotion to such a pitch, as a 
subscription - paper or a collection - box. There are 
many men to whom skepticism never appears so 


SUBTLETY OF AVARICE. 


377 


atrocious, as when they are approached for means to 
drive skepticism out of the world. Nor will any other 
incident stir them up to such paroxysms of parental 
affection, or make them so resolute in the purpose of 
“ providing for their own.” Let us not quarrel with 
this feeling. The Bible is friendly to all the domestic 
sympathies; and the tighter the bonds of household 
love are drawn, the better. But there is still some¬ 
thing to be said on the subject mentioned in this 
much-abused admonition of the apostle. 

It is a striking illustration of the insidious nature 
of avarice, that not one rich man in a hundred, per¬ 
haps not one in a thousand, is disposed to stop 
hoarding. The point of acquisition which constitutes 
“wealth,” is pushed along as men approach it; so 
that the amount of property which, at setting out in 
business, supplied their definition of “ opulence,” and 
at which they meant to forbear further accumulation, 
comes, in time, to dwindle into a paltry “ competence,” 
with which “no one ought to be satisfied.” A simple 
change in the definition keeps conscience quiet, and 
allows the beguiling process to go on. The more 
they get, the more they want. And even when an 
estate has swelled to colossal proportions, the idea of 
arresting its growth, or of giving away a generous 
part of the revenue it yields, is almost as painful as 
that of losing a child. Singularly enough, this 
82 * 


378 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

morbid tenacity of income prevails where there is a 
distinct purpose of making a posthumous appropria¬ 
tion of large sums to charitable uses. The Will is 
already drawn up to this effect, and duly signed and 
sealed; but the Testator, entranced by the mysteri¬ 
ous power of gold, cannot summon the resolution to 
become his own Executor. He has seen many a Will 
broken, and many an inheritance alienated from its 
proper destination; and he knows this may happen 
in his own case also. But, again, “ it may not hap¬ 
pen” ; and he will run the hazard. If it were not 
for the spell which is upon him, the pleasure of apply¬ 
ing his bounty and witnessing the benign effects of it, 
would outweigh the sordid satisfaction he derives from 
seeing his huge heap of gold dust growing larger and 
larger. But the hallucination cannot be thrown off: 
the glittering treasure will assert its mastery against 
any rival power except the universal Conqueror. — 
Or, he is, possibly, one who is guiltless even of any 
prospective benefactions. His sole aim is, to “ pro¬ 
vide for his own”; to go on turning revenue into 
capital as long as life lasts, that when his eyes are 
closed in death, his mammoth estate may descend to 
his heirs unimpaired. 

I shall not be suspected of deprecating the accu¬ 
mulation of property even up to the most generous 
limits, or of discouraging a becoming foresight and 


THE OBLIGATIONS OF PROPERTY. 


379 


liberality on the part of parents towards their fami¬ 
lies, if I ask you to consider how irrational all this 
conduct is, and how incompatible with the precepts 
of the Bible. Assuredly, it proceeds upon a most 
mistaken theory of the proper uses of wealth, and a 
practical denial of the Scripture doctrine of steward¬ 
ship. To argue these points, would imply that the 
arbitrators of the cause were themselves under the 
sway of the same enchantment upon which they were 
called to pronounce judgment. But the facts may be 
employed to caution you against the wiles of this 
imperious passion, and to impress upon your minds 
the importance of administering your affairs, on the 
wise and safe principles of Christian duty. Property 
is as much a trust, as intellect or learning, and is 
equally to be consecrated to the glory of God and 
the good of man. One of the prime questions con¬ 
nected with it, is that referred to by the apostle in 
the verse which has been quoted—providing for one’s 
household: and this must be adjusted, neither under 
the impulse of blind affection, nor at the bidding of 
pride and cupidity; but w T ith an earnest and prayerful 
desire to know the will of God, and a faithful use of 
all the helps He may proffer us in ascertaining His 
will. It would be very unwarrantable to say that an 
overgrown estate ought never to be bequeathed to a 
child: such a step might be demanded as a simple 


380 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

act of justice, or ratified by an enlightened piety on 
grounds of expediency. But as a general rule, expe¬ 
rience and observation combine to discourage this 
practice. The course of things perpetually going on 
in this country, and which nothing but the re-enact¬ 
ment of the laws of primogeniture could arrest, is for 
one generation to collect a fortune, and the next (one 
or two) to disperse it. Where are the estates of the 
leading Philadelphia, New York, and Boston mer¬ 
chants, who died half a century ago? Gather up 
the fragments, if you can find them, in the hands of 
their children and grandchildren; and see what there 
is to show for all the planning, and toiling, and saving, 
those fortunes cost! You have but to look around 
our own city, to see even contemporaneous patrimo¬ 
nies melting away like a March snowq almost before 
the mansions once tenanted by their frugal owners 
have put off their crape. Whether this parental 
munificence is commonly requited with a correspond¬ 
ing gratitude, and men are held in filial honour in 
proportion to the ingots they leave, and the time and 
pains they have taken to fabricate them, each one 
must decide for himself. But if it entered at all into 
the aims of these parties to establish a reputation 
which their fellow-citizens, or even their own descen¬ 
dants, should cherish as a sacred legacy, a very 
brief return to the scene of their former toils, would 


A MAN TO BE REMEMBERED. 


381 


probably satisfy some of them, that they had sadly 
mistaken the means for compassing their end. There 
are men who have judged more wisely. The grave 
has lately closed upon one of this class in an Eastern 
city. A venerable and successful merchant, he had 
for many years before his death, left off accumulating, 
and made it his inflexible rule to give away the whole 
of his large surplus income. Now he was endowing 
a college Professorship; now founding an Academy; 
now bestowing a princely benefaction upon some 
judicious Charity; and now another upon some noble 
religious enterprise. One of his favourite methods 
of doing good, was to purchase, and put in circula¬ 
tion, hundreds of copies, or perhaps whole editions, 
of any useful book which happened to commend itself 
to his taste and judgment. And after his death, a 
memorandum among his papers was found to contain 
the names of a large number of village pastors, whose 
scanty stipends he had been in the habit of supple¬ 
menting from year to year. These are but hints and 
samples of his life: but they may suffice to show that 
he was not a man to be forgotten. It is something 
for a private citizen so to live that when he dies, the 
whole community to which he belonged, and other 
distant communities vying with them, shall take up 
his name and breathe a blessing upon it. It is for 
yourselves, under Providence, to decide (I speak 


382 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


especially to the wealthy among you), whether your 
memories shall be thus embalmed, or handed over to 
a speedy oblivion. And in making this observation, 
I am far from commending it to you as a becoming 
object of your ambition, to purchase a posthumous 
fame by your charities. I have in view simply the 
ordinance of heaven, that “the righteous shall be 
held in everlasting remembrance/’ “The memory 
of the just” (and this epithet includes the idea of 
benevolence) “ is blessed.” Whether you take the 
case of a secluded female, who employs her leisure 
hours, like Dorcas, in making coats and garments for 
the poor, or the faithful missionary, who wears him¬ 
self out in distributing the bread of life along the 
lanes and alleys of a city, or the paternal landlord, 
who, like the “ Man of Ross,” puts the impress of 
his kindness upon all the homes of his neighbourhood, 
and associates his name with every measure which 
can augment the common comfort, or the generous 
capitalist whose benefactions are a sure reliance to 
the great religious charities of his age — it is alike 
the ordering of Providence, that their memories shall 
be blessed. You may not aim at this result. Your 
humility may shrink from the thought of having your 
names repeated from one to another, even by friendly 
and grateful lips. But you cannot well avoid this, 
if you are faithful to your trust, and employ your 


BENEVOLENCE AND SELFISHNESS—REWARDED. 383 


property, or a reasonable portion of it, in doing good. 
Sooner or later, many will “ rise up and call you 
blessed.” It is meet that it should be so. And the 
marvel is, that you do not all perceive how superior 
in dignity and worth, in honour and influence, is a 
scheme of life regulated by these principles, to one 
which looks only, or mainly, to indefinite accumula¬ 
tion. You must perceive it. It is forced upon you 
in the current intercourse of society. It is impossible 
not to observe the widely different positions occupied, 
respectively, by individuals belonging to the two 
classes of which we are speaking. They may be 
equal in intelligence, social standing, and wealth; 
but there is no equality in the general respect and 
esteem accorded to them. No right-minded commu¬ 
nity will admit a purely selfish person, one who lives 
for himself and his own exclusively, to the confidence 
and gratitude they bestow upon a man who shows 
himself a lover of his kind, and a ready helper where 
there is any good to be done. They have, each of 
them, their reward; and the rewards are, very pro¬ 
perly, as unlike as their characters. These are facts 
as patent as the sun at noon-day. They run all 
through the annals of every city. They meet us as 
we pass along the streets. They find quiet but sig¬ 
nificant utterance at many a funeral. And if tomb¬ 
stones would speak the truth, the cemeteries would 
fairly bristle with them. 


884 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Why, then, are they not more operative in society ? 
How is it, that Commerce is still so much under the 
sway of selfishness? that there are so few in any 
walk of life, who have learned the true use of money ? 
Let those who ask these questions, ponder them. 
They are not to he answered in a breath. To do 
justice to them, we must go back to the fountain of 
corruption in the human heart. We must dissect our 
school-books. We must analyze our systems of 
domestic training. We must inquire into the maxims 
and usages which determine the proper place of 
wealth in the social economy. We must weigh the 
course of our legislation and our jurisprudence. We 
must gauge the tone of the popular press. We must 
revise the teachings of the pulpit. We must ascer¬ 
tain whether the prevalent Christianity of the Church, 
is in all things coincident with the Christianity of the 
New Testament.—Let these sources of information 
he explored, and some light will be thrown upon the 
problems we have to cope with. This office I cannot 
enter upon. I have detained you too long already. 
But whatever may be the secondary causes which have 
invested the love of money with so fatal an ascen¬ 
dancy in our country, there is but one effective anti¬ 
dote for it. The sorcery of wealth can be dissolved 
only by the blood of the cross. And for your¬ 
selves — unless you are prepared to barter the 


THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 


385 


“true riches” for the “mammon of unrighteous¬ 
ness,” that disastrous error which has consigned so 
many Merchants to irretrievable and eternal bank¬ 
ruptcy, you must admit the Gospel of Christ to its 
legitimate supremacy in the realm of Commerce, and 
ENTHRONE THE BlBLE IN ALL YOUR COUNTING- 

Houses. 





Xerture 


SUGGESTIONS TO YOUNG MEN 


ENGAGED IN 

MERCANTILE BUSINESS: 


A DISCOURSE OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF MR. ARCHIBALD 
SLOAN, AT THE MERCHANTS* HOTEL, PHILADELPHIA, 
OCTOBER 9TH, 1851. 


( 387 ) 


CORRESPONDENCE 


Philadelphia, Nov. 1, 1851. 

Dear Sir: — Having listened, with great interest, to the sermon 
you delivered on Sunday evening last, addressed to “the Mercantile 
Classes,” and desiring that its usefulness may be extended, by afford¬ 
ing an opportunity for its perusal to the community at large, we 
respectfully request, on our own behalf and on that of many others 
who heard you, that you will furnish us with a copy for publication. 

With much respect, your obedient servants, 

T. G. MOSS, 

W. R. CASON, 

G. M. PROCTER, 

H. J. SMITH. 

Rev. Dr. Boardman. 


Philadelphia, Nov. 1st, 1851. 

To the Rev. II. A. Boardman, D. D. 

Dear Sir: — The undersigned listened with great satisfaction to the 
sermon delivered by you on Sunday evening the 26th ult., occasioned 
by the death of one of our companions, Mr. Archibald Sloan, and 
are deeply impressed with the belief that its publication and general 
circulation would be productive of much good in this community, more 
particularly to that class to which we belong, and to whom it was 
especially addressed. With that view, we most respectfully ask from 
you the manuscript for publication. 


FRANCIS SQUIRE, 

W. M. F. MAG RAW, 
ROBERT A. CRAWFORD, 
C. C. HAFFELFINGER, 
E. W. DAVIDSON, 
JACOB ZELLER, 


LAMBERT THOMAS, 

J. ALLISON EYSTER, 
ALEX. T. LANE, 

H. T. M’VEIGH, 

GEORGE T. HEATHER, 
SAML. P. DARLINGTON, 

( 388 ) 



CORRESPONDENCE 


E. C. HUNTINGTON, 

C. D. RUSSELL, 

HENRY C. LAUGHLIN, 
LOWBER BURROWS, 
BENJAMIN F. GROYE, 

S. H. SMITH, 

HARRY A. GLEIM, 

GEO. W. WANAMAKER, 

JOS. S. BROWN, 

JOS. WEBSTER, 

W. M. RECKLESS, 

JOHN C. RALSTON, 

J. W. WHITEMAN, 

FRANCIS A. FERRY, 

WM. T. DORTCH, 

JOHN JORDAN, 

A. EMSLIE NEWBOLD, 
HUGH P. SCHETKY, 

WM. J. BARR, 

HENRY LELAR, JR. 

J. M. TAYLOR, 

H. A. LEAYITT, 

GEO. S. TOBES, 

W. AUG’S ANDREWS, 
WHARTON GRIFFITTS, 
HARRY STILES, 

WM. H. NICOLS, 

ALEX. OMENSETTER, 

JAS. W. YEAZEY, 

JAMES H. COCHRANE, 

W. N. ASHMAN, 

FRANK COOKMAN, 

ISAAC W. WEBB, 

RICnD. PARKER, 

JOHN B. PENN, 

H. D. LAWRENCE, 

GEORGE C. BARBER, 

4 ALFRED 

33 * 


J. M. CARSKADDEN, 

E. S. HOWELL, 

L. LEAYITT, 

HUGH B. M’CAULEY, 

J. H. MEEHAN, ^ 
DAYID I. HAUN, 
JAMES W. WROTH, 
EDMUND B. ORBISON, 
II. HADDOCK, 

JAMES W. LINYILLE, 
WILLIAM CnAFFEE, 

J. W. STOUT, 

SAML. H. STERETT, 
CHAS. D. HURLBUTT, 
WM. P. ROCKHILL, 

M. JNO. MOORE, 

A. W. NASH, 

GEO. S. SCOTT, 

C. B. SLAGLE, 

JOHN C. WEBER, 

SAML. SPARIIAWK, 
THOMPSON RITCHIE, 
EDWIN A. MERRICK, 

J. P. BURROUGHS, 

GEO. W. GILL, 

JOHN S. WENNER, 

F. C. POTTER, 

B. A. BUCK, 

WM. F. WILKINS, 

C. W. YARD, 

C. W. SYDNOR, 

SAML. MILLIKEN, JR. 
WM. H. GREGG, 

D. M. SWARR, 

C. J. SHOWER, 

DAVID E. OAK, 
WASHINGTON DANNER, 

NESMITn. 


390 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Philadelphia, Nov. 3 d, 1851. 

Gentlemen : — Having been led by the lamented death of Mr. Sloan 
to reflect on the position and relations of the large body of Young 
Men in our commercial houses, the unwelcome conviction was forced 
upon me, that our Pastors generally, myself included, had scarcely 
recognized them as a distinct class in the community, much less put 
forth any suitable efforts for their welfare. Under the influence of this 
feeling, the discourse you have in such kind terms requested for pub¬ 
lication, was written. You will need no assurance from me that it 
was prepared without the slightest reference to the press; but I do 
not feel that this is a sufficient reason for withholding it, if, as you 
seem to suppose, its suggestions are adapted to be useful to those who 
listened to it from the pulpit. The manuscript is herewith placed at 
your disposal. 

I am very truly and faithfully yours, 

H. A. BOARDMAN. 


To Messrs. T. G. Moss, 

W. R. Cason, 

Francis Squire, 

W. M. F. Magraw, and others. 


A FUNERAL PAGEANT. 


391 


Itulun dE'lmnttr. 

SUGGESTIONS TO YOUNG MEN ENGAGED IN MERCAN¬ 
TILE BUSINESS. 


But seek te first the kingdom of God and his righte¬ 
ousness; AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO 

you. — Matt. vi. 33. 


Funeral pageants are too common in large cities 
to attract notice, unless they are marked by some 
peculiar circumstances. About two weeks since, on 
a mild and serene afternoon, a procession passed 
along our streets to a cemetery in the southern part 
of the city, which did for the time bring the eager 
throng in the thoroughfares to a pause, and excite at 
least a transient feeling of interest. It was a train 
of Young Men following the remains of a friend and 
companion to the grave. He came here from Ten¬ 
nessee three or four years ago, as a clerk in an emi¬ 
nent commercial house. His integrity and capacity, 
his fidelity and diligence, his modest demeanour and 



392 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

generous disposition, secured him the confidence of 
his employers, the cordial esteem of his associates, 
and the respect of all who met with him. No one 
will be found to gainsay the assertion that he was a 
general favourite; and that any of his contemporaries 
may esteem themselves happy, who are as much 
beloved as he was. He retired to rest of a Saturday 
night in his usual vigorous health — his athletic form 
and manly countenance betraying no indication of 
the insidious foe which had entrenched itself in the 
very citadel of life. Before the morning he was 
seized by an impetuous and unconquerable malady, 
which, after four brief days and nights of dreadful 
suffering, left him a pallid corpse. All that medical 
skill and faithful nursing (such nursing, perhaps, as 
is rarely enjoyed in a great hotel) could do, was 
done to save him. If sympathy and affection could 
have averted the blow, the kind ministrations and 
the tears of the young men who were constantly 
around his bed, and who supplied, as well as might 
be, the place of relatives, must have insured a reprieve. 
But his hour had come. He died — died with the 
flush of health upon his cheek, before disease had 
wasted his flesh, and, as it were, in the fulness of 
his strength — as a noble ship, her timbers all sound, 
her spars complete, and all her canvass spread, has 
sometimes disappeared suddenly beneath the sea. 


THE VOICE OF PROVIDENCE. 


393 


The startling severity of the blow sent a thrill through 
many hearts. A large concourse of his companions, 
with many of our merchants, assembled to do honour 
to his remains; and as the sad cortege passed on with 
a slow and solemn tread to the place of sepulture, it 
was honourable alike to the living and the dead to see 
how many hearts were touched by this spectacle — 
the funeral of a young man ! 

If God speaks to us in his providence as well as by 
his Word, an event like this should not be treated 
with indifference. It is charged with a mission which 
it deeply behooves us to understand. We shall not, 
probably, misinterpret one of its lessons if we make 
it the occasion of considering, for a little, the position 
and relations of the class of young men to which our 
deceased friend belonged, and the importance to them 
of personal religion. 

I speak of them as a class by themselves, for such, 
in fact, they are. The young men in our mercantile 
establishments — those particularly in our “ jobbing 
houses”—are, most of them, from abroad. They are 
neither natives of this city, nor are they here for a 
year or two simply as students. They have come 
here to reside, and are ultimately to become mer¬ 
chants themselves. This is one circumstance which 
marks them as a distinct class. 


394 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

Another is that they usually board at the hotels. 
Commercial ends are secured by this, which are 
thought to be of much importance. 

They have, again, a common occupation. They 
are in the same, or similar, kinds of business. The 
received methods of our inland commerce impart a 
substantial identity to their duties, their temptations, 
their pleasures, and their general mode of life, and 
separate them, in a measure, from the rest of the 
community. 

These attributes of the class, as such, must suffice 
to show that their position is not altogether favourable 
to the cultivation of virtue and religion. There is a 
great deal involved in taking a young man from his 
home, and setting him down to do for himself in a 
large city. The mere removal of a youth from a 
good home to any other situation — to a school or 
college, to the house of a friend or relative, to a shop 
or a store — brings with it a serious trial of character. 
But here the case is a very strong one. Compare a 
modest, tranquil dwelling in a small town or hamlet 
of Kentucky or Tennessee, with one of our mammoth 
Hotels, and you will begin to understand the ordeal 
which some thousands of young men in our city have 
passed through. It is not easy to conceive of any 
greater social change which they could have experi¬ 
enced, than this. At a single bound they have 


LIFE AT A HOTEL. 


395 


passed from all the genial influences which sheltered, 
restrained, and nurtured them in such a home, into 
a scene which contains scarcely an element of domes¬ 
tic life. Instead of sitting down at a snug family 
board with the same little group from month to 
month, they sit at a table with two or three hundred 
guests, and these changing every day. In place of 
the sympathy, the tenderness, the mutual confidence 
and refining fellowship of a mother and sisters, they 
are surrounded by men —respectable and worthy per¬ 
sons, no doubt, but all men —and as such, no adequate 
companions to replace the circle they have left. For 
an atmosphere of love, where there was some one to 
share in every joy, and divide every trouble; where 
their every want was promptly supplied, and every 
indication of pain or anxiety was made the occasion 
for fresh offices of affection; they have been trans¬ 
planted into one which, though not destitute of this 
element, savours far more of indifference and selfish¬ 
ness. They are in a throng who are thrown together 
by interest or convenience, business or pleasure; the 
most of whom are not stationary long enough to form 
any attachments; and who sever the precarious tie 
which constitutes their transient bond of union, with 
as little feeling as they formed it. 

This change in their domestic relations is emble¬ 
matical of that which has taken place in their situa- 


396 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


tion at large. They have relinquished the seclusion 
and simplicity of the country, for life in a great 
metropolis. Everything here is widely different. 
The outward face of things is so unlike the country, 
that a young man is often bewildered when he is first 
dropped in the heart of a city, with its multitudinous 
streets and lanes, its interminable ranges of houses 
and shops, its imposing public buildings, the rapid 
succession of vehicles of every pattern which sweep 
along the avenues, and the endless crowds of human 
beings that jostle each other on the sidewalks. It is 
to such a youth a new world — stranger and more 
exciting even than it would be to an intelligent and 
travelled American or European, to be put down in 
the streets of Pekin or Jeddo. Nor is the exchange 
very advantageous on the score of morals. Natural 
scenery, it is true, will never renew the heart. Vol¬ 
taire wrote many of his infamous libels upon Chris¬ 
tianity, and some of his most licentious tales and 
essays, while looking out from his villa at Ferney, 
upon as glorious a panorama as mortal eyes ever 
gazed upon. And humanity has few more degraded 
specimens of its handiwork to present to the sympathy 
of the philanthropist, than some which can be found 
among the most picturesque regions of the globe. 
Still, there is much in nature, as contrasted with a 
great city, that is adapted to refine and improve the 
character — 


RURAL INFLUENCES. 


897 


“Scenes formed for contemplation, and to nurse 
The growing seeds of wisdom; that suggest, 

By every pleasing image they present, 

Reflections such as meliorate the heart, 

Compose the passions, and exalt the mind.” 

It is certainly a material advantage that in the 
country, the objects which meet the senses speak of 
God, while in the city we are reminded only of man. 
Not only do the mountains and forests, the valleys 
and rivers, illustrate the wisdom and majesty of the 
Deity; but “ the spectacle of active nature is no less 
favourable to the cultivation of religious feeling than 
the contemplation of its passive scenes; every bird 
and every animal has its habits of life independent 
of man; it has a sagacity which man never taught; 
and propensities which man could not inspire. The 
growth of all the plants and fruits of the earth, 
depends upon laws over which man has no control: 
out of great cities there is everywhere around and 
about us a vast system going on utterly independent 
of human wisdom and human interference; and man 
learns there the great lesson of his imbecility and 
dependence, not by that reflection to which superior 
minds alone can attain, but by those daily impres¬ 
sions upon his senses which make the lesson more 
universal and more certain. But here everything is 
man, and man alone; kings and senates command us; 
34 


398 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

we talk of their decrees and look up to their pleasure; 
they seem to move and govern all, and to be the pro¬ 
vidence of cities; in this seat of government, placed 
under the shadow of those who make the laws, we do 
not render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, 
and unto God the things which are God’s; but God is 
forgotten, and Caesar is supreme; all is human policy, 
human foresight, human power; nothing reminds us 
of invisible dominion and concealed omnipotence; we 
do nothing but what man bids; we see nothing but 
what man creates; we mingle with nothing but what 
man commands; it is all earth and no heaven.” * 

In the letter, this pertains to London; in its spirit, 
it applies to all great cities. Nor does it state the 
whole truth. Not only have we to do here with 
man’s works, man’s laws, man’s projects, with every¬ 
thing that is of man and that is fitted to fasten the 
attention upon man, but we “ live and move and have 
our being” amidst a crowd — and it must be a robust 
integrity which can stand this. We are admonished 
against the danger from this source on high authority. 
“Be not ye the servants of men.” “ Thou shalt not 
follow a multitude to do evil.” The best of us need 
to have these warnings frequently sounded in our 
ears. And how essential are they to the class whom 
I am addressing ! No man can be blind to the whole- 


* Sydney Smith. 



METROPOLITAN SEDUCTIONS. 


399 


some restraints which are imposed on vice, in a city 
like this, nor to the powerful agencies which are here 
originated for the support of real religion. It is in no 
small measure through metropolitan capital, energy, 
intelligence, and piety, that the mighty conflict with 
sin is carried forward, which is, by the blessing of 
God, to result in the general diffusion of Christianity. 
But it cannot, on the other hand, be denied, that a 
perfect torrent of worldliness is perpetually pouring 
itself through all the streets and marts of such a city. 
The multitudes have their eyes fixed, not on heaven, 
but on earth. Their employments, their conversation, 
the motives which drive them on in the fierce race of 
competition, the institutions and implements of com¬ 
merce, the whole network of their daily associations, 
are secularizing in their tendency. And when you 
superadd to these influences, the fascinating amuse¬ 
ments and gilded vices which impregnate the atmo¬ 
sphere with their grateful but deadly malaria, and 
infuse a new and most effective element into the 
reigning levity and hardihood of the crowd, you can¬ 
not fail to see what imminent peril waits upon every 
young man who places himself within the reach of 
these potent seductions. The strong impulse of those 
who come here from the interior especially, and are 
severed from their homes, must be, to fall in with the 
current and let it bear them where it will. It is 


400 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


natural and easy to do as others do around us — to 
conform to the popular usages and fashions. Men 
cease to he nice casuists when they are mixed up in a 
crowd. The practical verdict of the multitude super¬ 
sedes their inquiries into the right and wrong of 
actions, and sweeps away their scruples — or, at least 
sweeps them away, even though their scruples re¬ 
main. The motives which induce this passive acqui¬ 
escence in the ways of the majority, may he com¬ 
mendable. It may spring from modesty, or from a 
dread of singularity. “ Who am I, that I should set 
myself up as wiser and better than those around me ? 
Why am I called upon to condemn practices and 
habits which have the sanction of so- many older and 
abler men ? Can that be wrong which has so general 
an approval ? I am but an humble individual; can 
any harm result from my living as other people 
live?” With such specious sophistries as these, 
young men too often persuade themselves to barter 
their independence and their rectitude, for a listless 
and unworthy subserviency to the opinions of their 
neighbours. On any other subject they might dare 
to be singular. On questions of politics, of trade, of 
education, of literature, they venture not only to 
think for themselves, but to utter their sentiments 
with manly freedom, and shape their conduct accord¬ 
ingly. But where morals and religion are concerned, 


ABORTIVE STRUGGLES. 


401 


they are either seized with a timidity which makes 
them suppress their convictions, or paralyzed by an 
apathy which produces a servile assent, where there 
ought to be a fearless resistance. - If we could cull a 
few leaves from the private journals of mercantile 
life, such as are filed away, not in the pigeon-holes 
of an escritoir, hut in the recesses of the heart, it 
might appear that no small portion of the young men 
of this class have brought themselves to fall in with 
one practice and another of the commercial world, 
only through a tedious series of unavowed misgivings 
and remonstrances; while many others have been 
content to take things as they were, without inquiry 
or reflection. It cannot be disguised that, as a body, 
their morals are exposed to more or less danger from 
the preternatural excitement which pervades the whole 
realm of commerce. This excitement may be detected 
wherever there is trafficking on a large scale; but it 
has its foci in our great cities; and these young men, 
like the angel in the sun, are just at the burning 
point. Allowing that the rivalries and conflicts which 
occupy them are of a generous nature, still they are 
a crucible to character, and it is well if they come out 
of them unscathed. In the customary routine of their 
duties, they are selling goods to men of every type, 
seeking customers at their hotels for the houses they 
represent, carrying on a large correspondence, taking 
34 * 


402 the bible’in the counting-house. 

long and hazardous journeys, repelling what they 
regard as calumniatory statements from adverse 
sources, sometimes brought into immediate collision 
with the agents of counter-interests, and tempted, not 
unfrequently, with a view to mere mercantile ends, 
to accompany strangers to places of vicious amuse¬ 
ment;— and it were a marvel if their principles 
should suffer no damage in a life like this. Let it be 
recorded to the lasting honour of the profession to 
which they have devoted themselves, that amidst 
these hostile influences there are constantly moulding 
characters of noble strength and symmetry; and that, 
in the aggregate, they maintain in their proper sphere, 
the high reputation of the commercial class for can¬ 
dour and probity. Still, there are disasters. This 
is a coast where too many fine barques have been 
wrecked, and too many shattered, not to put us on 
our guard against its dangers. How these can be 
eluded or surmounted must be a question of absorbing 
interest with every young man engaged in mercantile 
pursuits. It is a question quite too comprehensive to 
be answered in a single sermon. A few suggestions 
must, in the present service, supply the place of a 
formal dissertation on this subject. 

Nothing effective can be done in the right direction, 
until a young man awakes to his personal respon¬ 
sibility. So long as we move in a crowd, swayed 


PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. 


408 


to and fro by its eddies — like the twig entangled in a 
mass of rubbish on the bosom of a running stream — 
we cannot but miss the proper end of our being. The 
servitude of caste must be broken. We must think 
and act for ourselves. We must be impressed with 
the conviction that there is not only a fitness and 
an unfitness, an expediency and an inexpediency, a 
beauty and a deformity, in our specific actions and 
our general plans and aims, but also a right and 
a wrong ; that this is, beyond all comparison, their 
most important relation; and that the standard by 
which it is to be adjusted is not usage, but the law 
of God. It may very well happen that your prin¬ 
ciples and life are in harmony with those of the great 
commercial brotherhood to which you belong, and 
that they justly secure to you the respect and confi¬ 
dence commonly awarded to such virtues as adorn 
your characters. But is there not another tribunal 
to which you are amenable? “With me,” says the 
apostle Paul, “it is a very small thing that I should 
be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge 
not mine own self, but he that judgeth me is the 
Lord.” This is as true of each one of us as it was 
of Paul. We need not disparage the opinions of our 
fellow-men; we may, within proper limits, court their 
approbation. But it is a fatal error to confound their 
commendation with the Divine sanction, to mistako 


404 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

the vox jpopuli for the vox Dei , the voice of the people 
for the voice of God. The balances in which motives 
and actions are weighed, are hung high above the 
tumults of commerce — beyond the reach of all those 
influences which beguile our consciences and bias our 
judgments. And he alone is likely to go on in the 
path of rectitude, with an unfaltering step, who has 
his eye steadfastly fixed on them, and labours to poise 
his motives and conduct by their unerring decisions. 

This cannot be done by one who lives only in the 
crowd. It is indispensable, if we would attain it, 
that we HAVE OUE SEASONS OF SELF-COMMUNION AND 
communion with God. If our Saviour found it 
needful to retire frequently for prayer, how essential 
must secret meditation and devotion be to us ! The 
very circumstance of withdrawing for this purpose — 
the consciousness of being alone with God — is pecu¬ 
liarly adapted to foster that feeling of personal 
responsibility of which we have just spoken. There, 
in that solitary chamber, the noisy world shut out, 
the tramp and hum of the crowd heard only as a 
distant murmur, the cares of business and the entice¬ 
ments of sin left behind — there, with your Bible 
open before you, and your thoughts going up to the 
throne of the Omniscient, you cannot well help feel¬ 
ing that you have an existence of your own, an indi¬ 
viduality which cannot be merged in the activities of 


ENTER INTO THY CLOSET. 


405 


the surrounding multitude, but which is as complete 
and intransferable as though you were the only 
rational tenant of the globe. The legitimate effect 
of these seasons of seclusion is to restore those im¬ 
pressions of the invisible and the spiritual, which con¬ 
tinual commerce with the world tends to efface. They 
supply us with a new stand-point from which to survey 
the world at large, and our own particular relations 
to it. You must sometimes have noted in travelling, 
how different are the views you get of a region of 
country, as you stand upon a lofty ridge, and retrace 
your route, from those which beguiled you by the 
way. And the difference will be far greater in the 
estimates you form of yourself and of the world in 
your own dormitory, with the Scriptures for your 
guide, as compared with those which have engrossed 
you while actually pursuing your daily avocations. 
It is here you will be likely to get a fresh sight of 
that immutable standard of right and wrong , which 
is so often obscured or distorted by the mists of pas¬ 
sion and prejudice. Here you will measure yourself, 
not by your fellow-worms, but by the perfect Exem¬ 
plar proposed to us in the Gospel. Here you will 
detect the unworthy motives of some of your actions 
which have elicited the applause of your friends, and 
be led to see that you have less cause to be exalted 
before men, than you have to be abased before God. 


406 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


Here, in a word, you will have those momentous 
themes presented to you which we are all so apt to 
lose sight of, and a due appreciation of which is 
essential both to our present comfort and our eternal 
well-being. Whatever is neglected, then, let provision 
he made, in the adjustment of your time, for a daily 
season of devotion. 

From private to public devotion, the transition is 
easy and natural. Look again at your position. 
Immortal, accountable, and dying creatures, you are 
placed in circumstances where you are in imminent 
danger of being swept away by the torrent of secu¬ 
larly which breaks over you with all its force during 
six days of every week. Duty, interest, happiness, 
your everlasting salvation, are all involved in your 
escaping or repelling it. What are you to do ? To 
breast it in your own strength, would be like attempting 
to breast the rapids of the Niagara, and must equally 
lead to a fatal catastrophe. But our heavenly Father 
has not left us to so hard a fate. He has offered us 
his own Almighty arm for a support, and taught us 
how to avail ourselves of it. Pre-eminent among his 
merciful arrangements for this end, stands the Chris¬ 
tian Sabbath — an institution so fraught with bless¬ 
ings of every kind, that to contemn it would argue a 
mind dead to all sense of gratitude, and to all proper 
consideration for the improvement of the race. In 


THE DAY OF REST. 


407 


your situation, the Sabbath has a value which no 
words can express. It comes to you with its sweet 
repose, to refresh you from your toil and weariness. 
It comes to turn the current of your associations; to 
repeat for you the miracle of the Red Sea, and roll 
back, for a few hours, the swelling tide which threat¬ 
ens to submerge you; to take you out of the beaten 
track in which you are treading your ceaseless rounds, 
and open to you the green pastures and still waters 
of paradise; to change the scene for you, from ware¬ 
houses and customers, merchandize and trafficking, to 
the house of God, the reverence and the solemnity of 
a worshipping assembly, the songs of Zion, and the 
sublime themes of revelation. An alternation like this 
is invaluable, in a mere intellectual view. The mind 
dwarfs and rusts if it is kept to a stereotype routine 
of functions. To give breadth and comprehension to 
its powers, the subjects on which they are employed 
must be diversified. It w T ere better to change some¬ 
times to trifling objects, than not to change at all. 
And if this principle be sound, the advantage, simply 
in the way of mental culture, must be incalculable, 
when the subjects presented for consideration are at 
once the most majestic and the most urgent which can 
engage the attention of rational beings. The time 
forbids me to go into this inquiry now, but the fact 
must be apparent to every hearer, that you render an 


408 TIIE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


individual a most useful service, aside from any moral 
benefit he may receive, when you replace, even for an 
hour or two, the mass of earthliness which fills his 
heart and monopolizes his faculties from day to day, 
with ideas of God and eternity, the soul and its 
destiny, redemption and perdition. You startle him 
from his torpor. You wake up his powers. You 
open to him a new creation. You send off his 
thoughts into regions he had scarcely dreamed of. 
You enlarge the grasp of his faculties, and qualify 
him to pass with a discrimination and an acuteness 
previously undeveloped, upon the common pursuits 
and familiar topics of life. So true is it, that “ the 
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” even 
taking “ wisdom” in its lowest signification. 

But the Sabbath lias a much stronger claim upon 
you than this, and it is insisted upon here because 
this is precisely the pivot upon which the career of 
thousands of clerks in our cities hinges. The Sab¬ 
bath is the 'point in their scheme of life at which 
the road forks; one track leading on to honour, 
success, and usefulness; the other to ultimate ruin, 
and frequently to premature failure and disgrace. 
If you consider the matter (for I can do little more 
than state the fact), you will find that the proper 
observance of the Sabbath is affiliated with every 
virtue and every good habit, with all the agencies 


GOOD POLICY TO KEEP T1IE SABBATH. 409 

which are favourable to self-improvement and solid 
happiness, and all those which go to prepare men for 
heaven; while the habitual desecration or neglect of 
this day is as closely interlaced with the evil propen¬ 
sities of the heart, with vicious habits, and with those 
pestiferous influences which subvert men’s principles 
and destroy their souls. The profanation of the 
Sabbath implies a want of reverence for the Divine 
authority, and of gratitude for the Divine goodness, 
which is itself an evil omen. There is a flaw already 
in the character or the conscience of the man who 
can permit himself to invade the sanctity of that day 
which Jehovah claims as his own, and upon which He has 
impressed his image and superscription. This conduct 
denotes an absence of that plenary integrity towards 
God which is the best guarantee of inflexible integrity 
towards man. Honesty may co-exist with irreligion 
and with downright infidelity. But its only immu¬ 
table and adequate basis is faith in Jesus Christ. A. 
merchant who looks only to his own interest, and who 
is as indifferent to the spiritual welfare of his clerks 
as he is to the thrift of the dray-horses in the street, 
would nevertheless pursue a wise policy by encourag¬ 
ing them to a faithful observance of the Sabbath. 
The more they feel their obligations to God, the more 
conscientious will they be in serving their employer; 
for, it is the same principle which puts a man upon 
35 


410 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

fearing God, and upon rendering to all their dues -— 
which makes one loyal to heaven, and upright in all 
that pertains to earth. The neglect of the Sabbath 
involves a disreputable neglect of the Bible. It 
fosters a disrelish for serious things. It blunts the 
conscience. It promotes indolence and instability. 
It frequently contributes to nourish a taste for demo¬ 
ralizing books. It leads to bad company — Sunday- 
drives — drinking — theatres — and other pernicious 
recreations. It lays men open to the subtle approaches 
of skeptics and scoffers. While, on the other hand, 
it removes from them the restraints, and deprives 
them of the helps, which we all require in our war¬ 
fare with sin, and which they certainly require, who 
rush unbidden into all these temptations. A volume 
would scarcely suffice to discuss this topic. But the 
occasion precludes my doing more than to exhort you 
by every motive which can be addressed to your 
interest, your duty, or your desire of happiness, to 
guard your Sabbaths from desecration. God has 
given you this day as your own: “ The Sabbath was 
made for man.” The world has no right to it. 
Business has no lien upon it. Friends may not 
deprive you of it. He has bestowed it upon you 
for your own use and benefit; and, if your eyes are 
not holden, you will see that it is a more munificent 
gift than if he had made you a grant of all the ships 


CHURCH-GOING HABITS. 


411 


that float on our waters, or all the gold they have 
brought here for coinage. Dedicate it to its high 
and holy purposes — to the worship of God, to your 
preparation for eternity, and to philanthropic labours 
for your destitute or suffering fellow-creatures. Have 
A PLACE IN SOME EVANGELICAL CHURCH — a place 
which shall be your own. This will make you feel 
like occupying it, and take away that illusive and 
fatal pretext, which keeps so many young men from 
the sanctuary, that they “have no place to go to.” 
It will do more. By identifying yourselves with a 
congregation, you become sharers in their sympathies 
and their prayers. You participate, more or less, in 
their spiritual blessings. The very relations you 
sustain towards them will become fresh incentives to 
virtuous conduct. You will be conscious of occupy¬ 
ing a more conspicuous, and, I may add, a more 
honourable, position in the community; of having 
friendly eyes turned upon you, and friendly expecta¬ 
tions cherished concerning you; all which will be 
wholesome props and stimulants in the race of life. 
Above all, this will bring you within the sound of the 
Gospel. It wall set home upon your consciences at 
stated intervals, those lessons of our mortality and 
responsibility which we arc all so prone to forget, 
keep you admonished that it is your duty to “ seek 
first the kingdom of God and his rightcousnc'ss,” and 


412 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

supply you •with the aids essential to the achievement 
of this great end. Let nothing, then, prevent you 
from attaching yourselves, not by the precarious tie 
of caprice or fashion, but by the firm bond of principle 
and duty, to some evangelical congregation. 

It will not do, however, to rest here. “ The king¬ 
dom of God” must be sought until it is found. By 
nature and by practice we are alienated from God, 
and rebels against him. Our prime duty, our most 
urgent necessity, is to be restored to his favour, and 
transformed into his image. We must be pardoned 
through the blood of Christ, and renewed by the 
Divine Spirit, or we are lost for ever. We require 
this, as already intimated, on other grounds. It 
were a theme well worthy your attention — true 
religion as an element in the commercial character— 
a subject of peculiar interest, and happily illustrated 
in numerous examples around us, of accomplished 
merchants whose lives are transfused with the spirit 
of genuine piety. It would be a grateful office to 
trace the influence of a steadfast and intelligent faith 
both upon the intellectual and the moral powers—to 
see how it operates in imparting strength and sym¬ 
metry to the character — how it fosters integrity, 
prudence, sagacity, and industry — how it excites to 
the cultivation of all the faculties — how it represses 
evil tendencies and wards off temptations — and how 


PATHS OF DANGEK. 


413 


it inspires general respect and confidence. These 
are important bearings of personal religion as regards 
mercantile character and success. But we have no 
time to consider them in detail. 

To a single one of them I may be allowed to ad¬ 
vert briefly; I refer to the temptations incident to 
your peculiar vocation. What these are, you know 
a great deal better than I can tell you. That they 
are neither few nor small, might be inferred from the 
sketches already given of your general mode of life. 
You have your homes in those great establishments 
(conducted, often, let it be said, with admirable skill 
and efficiency) into which steamboats and railway 
trains are constantly pouring crowds of travellers. 
Imbued with a becoming zeal for the success of your 
respective houses, you adopt all honourable measures 
to extend their business. Among the eager and shift¬ 
ing multitude with whom you are thus brought in 
contact, are men who are curious to see the sights of 
the city, and others who are bent on amusements and 
indulgences which the small towns and villages they 
reside in do not supply. Your aid is invoked as 
guides and companions — possibly, sometimes, ten¬ 
dered where it is not invoked. You will not thank 
me, perhaps, if I go further. But how can I do you 
good unless I tell you the truth ? Let me remind 
you, then, that this very process has brought many a 
35* 


414 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

promising young man to ruin. It too often conducts 
them to the theatre, and other places of vicious amuse¬ 
ment. It carries them out on Sunday excursions. 
It leads to drinking and card-playing. It makes 
them acquainted with gamblers and profligates — the 
marauders that may he seen at almost all hours of 
the day, lounging about some of the most conspicuous 
corners in our city, and who, if tolerated, will entrench 
themselves in the hotels. A salesman will vindicate 
this policy to his own conscience, on the ground that 
it is designed to subserve the interests of his princi¬ 
pals. This it may do for a time, and in a limited 
degree ; but it seldom works well in the end. Busi¬ 
ness may be increased at too large a cost. Gun¬ 
cotton was at first hailed as a wonderful achievement 
in the arts, and one likely to be of high public utility. 
But it has been found that the process of preparing 
it is attended with imminent hazard to the operatives, 
and that when manufactured, it is a very dangerous 
tenant: the risk of it is greater than its value. 
Custom that is got by treating and frequenting scenes 
of dissipation, is very like gun-cotton. It jeopards 
health and character to get it, and when secured, it 
is very apt to blow up and scatter your property to 
the winds.* How can it be otherwise? No man 


* I have heard one of the most accomplished and influ¬ 
ential salesmen in this city, say, that in the whole of his 




COSTLY CUSTOMERS. 


415 


can be an eligible customer, who is not a man of cor¬ 
rect principles and habits. If he lacks this requisite, 
the larger his purchases the more perilous for the 
house that sells to him. What reliance, then, can be 
placed upon a man whose morals are already so 
debauched that he spends his time while in the city, 
in sensual pleasures ? or upon one of so little intelli¬ 
gence and energy, that a bottle of wine or a compli¬ 
mentary visit to some place of amusement, will control 
him in buying his goods ? It is suicidal for a house 
to countenance any measure which may tend to 
weaken the moral sense of a customer, or foster his 
inferior appetites. How many have been inoculated 
in our Atlantic cities with the fatal virus of intem¬ 
perance or gambling, who have gone back to their 
distant homes and indulged these propensities for a 
while in secret, until at length, after a few more 
visits to the seaboard, they have been mastered by 
their evil passions, and ruined in health, fortune, and 
character. “ Wealth gotten by vanity shall be dimi¬ 
nished.” There is a Providence as much in com¬ 
merce as in religion: and it can excite no surprise 
in a reflecting mind, that a traffic which it has 
corrupted the morals of clerks and customers to gain, 

experience, he never knew a customer secured by the course 
alluded to, who did not prove, in the end, a scourge to the 
house he dealt with. 



416 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 


should sooner or later entail losses, if not dishonour, 
on all concerned in it. 

Let not these observations be misunderstood. They 
involve no impeachment of the mercantile body, as 
such. The character of this profession, whether in 
the city or the country, for general intelligence and 
probity, is beyond reproach; as is the reputation of 
the young men, as a class, who are charged with the 
endless subordinate (or, in one sense, primary) agen¬ 
cies in the world of trade. But no profession is free 
from unworthy members. And even if there were 
fewer of this sort than there are, engaged in mercan¬ 
tile pursuits, your situation would still be one to 
demand for you the restraints and safeguards of true 
religion. Not that religion would infallibly preserve 
you either from error or sin. But you would be far 
safer with it than you can be without it. It would 
hold you back from many a scene of peril, and blunt 
the edge of many an enticement to evil. It would 
come to the help of your good purposes, when borne 
down by a formidable array of numbers, or giving 
way under some sudden temptation. It would estab¬ 
lish your moral principles on a solid basis, and insure 
you those Divine succours, without which, all our 
strength is weakness, and our wisdom, folly. 

But there is the still weightier consideration to be 
pondered by you, already mentioned. The one great 


THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE. 


417 


alternative demands our care, “Except ye repent, ye 
shall all likewise perish” — repentance or perdi¬ 
tion. Here is a sufficient, an unanswerable argu¬ 
ment why you should all “ seek the kingdom of God” 
without delay, viz., that this is the only way in which 
you can be prepared for death and eternity. Some 
of you have had this argument presented to you lately 
with a solemnity and a tenderness which the pulpit 
cannot emulate. Who that stood by the bed-side of 
the lamented Sloan, can forget his testimony ! There 
he lay ; his manly form writhing under paroxysms of 
intense suffering, and his generous nature pierced with 
the deeper anguish of a reclaiming conscience, and 
an anticipated judgment — there he lay, lamenting 
with bitter sorrow that he had postponed his prepara¬ 
tion for death until the hand of death was upon him. 
It is not for us to draw aside the curtain, and learn 
whether those anxious prayers, for mercy which en¬ 
gaged so large a portion of the last forty-eight hours 
of his life, received a gracious answer. W~e may hope 
that they did. We may cherish the alleviating 
thought that the confidence he expressed was well 
grounded, a confidence reposing not on his own works 
or merits, which he so emphatically disclaimed, but 
wholly on the true foundation, the righteousness of 
Christ. This will not abate the force of his admis¬ 
sions, or the urgency of his appeals. It was his 


41b THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

dying testimony, that it is most unwise to neglect the 
claims of religion in the season of health. It was his 
earnest and affectionate admonition to some of his 
kind and sympathizing friends, “ See that you do not 
defer your preparation, as I have done, until you are 
laid upon a death-bed.” What can I add to this ? 
If we could revoke him from yonder cemetery, if we 
could call hack his immortal spirit from the unseen 
world, and he could stand for a brief space where I 
stand, and you could hear again the tones of that 
familiar voice, think you he would cancel the confes¬ 
sions and expostulations of his death-scene? You 
cannot believe this. You cannot doubt that with the 
experience he has now had of the eternal world, he 
would plead with you, trumpet-tongued, to be recon¬ 
ciled to God; that he would warn you against all 
delays; and entreat you with tears to “ seek first the 
kingdom of God.” Do you not owe it to his memory, 
as well as to yourselves, to heed this counsel ? 

“ Smitten friends 

Are angels sent on errands full of love; 

For us they languish, and for us they die: 

And shall they languish, shall they die, in vain ? 

Ungrateful, shall we grieve their hovering shades, 

Which wait the revolution in our hearts ? 

Shall we disdain their silent, soft address ; 

Their posthumous advice and pious prayer; 

Senseless, as herds that graze their hallow’d graves, 

Tread under foot their agonies and groans ; 

Frustrate their anguish, and destroy their deaths ? n 


A LAST APPEAL. 


419 


Under any circumstances, an appeal from an indi¬ 
vidual who is just passing into eternity, must be 
regarded with seriousness. But in this case it derives 
great force and solemnity from the character of the 
man. It is no barren, posthumous compliment, when 
it is stated, that he was a man of generous impulses 
and untarnished honour, one who scorned all meanness 
and chicanery, and wiio would rather do no business 
at all, than not do it on principles of straightforward 
honesty.* Here, in the judgment of very many 
intelligent persons, he had a foundation upon which 
he might have rested with safety: “If virtues like 
these do not insure salvation, who can hope to be 

* Mr. Sloan's disposition may be inferred from an anecdote 
which I have received on the best authority. Before he 
came to this city to reside, he had been in business in Ten¬ 
nessee. His property was entirely absorbed in discharging 
the liabilities contracted by the firm of which he was a mem¬ 
ber. He went out several months since to collect some money 
from a person who was largely in debt to him, and returned 
without it. “ Why did you not get your money ? " said a 
friend to him. “ Because," he replied, “ I went to the house, 
and found them all packed up, just about removing to Texas. 
And when I looked at his wife and little children, and con¬ 
sidered that if I insisted upon my claim, it might be taking 
the bread out of their mouths, and breaking up their plans, 
I couldn't do it. I chose rather to lose the money myself; 
and so I turned about, and came back, without even men¬ 
tioning the subject to him." 



420 THE BIBLE IN THE COUNTING-HOUSE. 

saved ?” And yet, when the hour of trial came, 
Sloan did not feel that he could trust to this founda¬ 
tion. He well knew that his character was about to 
be subjected to the scrutiny of that immaculate Being 
in whose sight the very heavens are not clean, and 
that the graceful qualities which had procured him the 
esteem of his fellow-men, might prove a very insufficient 
equipment to fit him for the presence of a holy God. 
His testimony on this vital point, corroborated as it 
is by the whole tenor of Scripture, may well put you 
upon a careful examination of your principles. If 
he could not trust to his morality, can you ? If, 
when the icy fingers of death came to grasp his hope, 
it shrivelled and vanished, what will become of yours ? 
If he found it needful to fly to the blood of sprinkling 
and the righteousness of Christ for pardon, how can 
you escape if you neglect this great salvation ? May 
that Almighty Spirit whose succour he so anxiously 
implored, seal upon your hearts his dying counsels, 
and lead you all to the Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sin of the world ! 


THE END. 























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